


Just Us

by ambersweet



Series: young just us [1]
Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, chaotic bart, it's about the Anguish and Pain that comes with being a Teenager, it's about the Friendship, it's about the Refusal to Label Sexual Identity, it's about the found family, tim kon and cassie being in love with each other ?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambersweet/pseuds/ambersweet
Summary: Teenage superheroes rule.Hanging out together, they rule even more.
Relationships: Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes, Kon-El | Conner Kent/Cassie Sandsmark
Series: young just us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581172
Comments: 16
Kudos: 59





	1. finding and losing the beetle

**Author's Note:**

> hi! you might (probably won't) notice that this work has been uploaded before, on my other account, @yuhaholic, but i took that one down because i wanted to clean it up and improve it, since i wrote that one a year ago and a lot of things have changed. it's mostly the same story, but you will notice some differences. thanks for being patient. :)

If Cassie hears Bart say one more thing about science or math or whatever ‘smart’ thing he’s talking about, she’s going to explode. 

It’s not that she’s not smart. She’s very smart, she’s in all honors classes and taking three APs this year (a mistake but she’s too proud to drop out now), but she isn’t the genius that Bart is, or Tim for that matter. Bart literally invented a time machine and was able to transport himself to before his parents were even born, and Tim was able to find out who Batman  _ and _ Nightwing really are with virtually no help. She’s not exactly on that level. 

You want to talk about calculus? Hit her up. 

But metaphysics? Hacking? Time travel? She isn’t sure what’s up or down. 

Bart, however, doesn’t seem to care that she doesn’t understand anything that he’s saying. It’s less that he’s trying to get her to learn, but more about just being able to process all of the information that he has in his brain. 

“- transmitting data at extremely fast speeds,” he’s saying, gesticulating wildly with his hands. 

Cassie nods tiredly and wonders if she could actually disappear if she leans back far enough into the couch. She’s overjoyed when Tim walks in, clad in his super suit (or just ‘suit’. He’s not super). 

“We got a mission, suit up,” he says shortly. 

“It’s so sexy when you get bossy,” Bart says, jumping to his feet. He zooms out of the room before Tim can respond. 

Tim looks to Cassie, who is wiping the crumbs of Bart’s snacks into a paper towel. “He is ruining our family friendly image.” 

“Dude, we’re teenagers,” Cassie says, shrugging, She dumps the paper towel into a trash bin. “None of us even care for the family friendly image. It’s all an illusion that Batman told you so you would stop cussing at dinner.” 

Tim huffs out a mirthless laugh. “Go get changed.” 

“Aye, captain.” Cassie gives Tim a halfhearted salute and goes to the locker room, where Bart is already in his suit and snacking on something crunchy. “You really want to be smelling like cheese whizzes during our mission?” 

“I have an extremely fast metabolism,” Bart says unnecessarily. “I need food constantly.” 

Cassie tugs her shirt off. “You could eat, like, carrots. Or something at least healthy. You’re gonna get nasty Cheeto fingers.” 

“I would die before I get Cheeto fingers,” Bart states. “I’m allergic to red dye.” 

“How’d you figure that out?” Cassie asks curiously. 

“Red vines,” Bart says disdainfully. “Gave me a nasty rash.” 

Cassie tucks her headband behind her ears to keep her hair out of her face and checks her lipstick in the mirror. “Sorry, buddy.” 

“The fuck are you guys doing in here, curling each other’s hair?” Conner is leaning his shoulder against the doorway. “Tim’s getting pissed.” 

“It’s only been four minutes,” Bart says. 

“And leather is a bitch to get on,” Cassie says.

Conner snorts. “You don’t have to wear leather.” 

“I gotta keep the audience satisfied,” Cassie says, giving her ass a light smack. 

“You can keep the audience satisfied without any pants at all,” Conner says.

Bart makes a noise of general contempt. “Y’all are so disgusting.” 

“Yeah, Tim’s precious family friendly image of the team is quaking,” Cassie says. 

“Shit, we better go before he yells at us.” Conner ushers them out. “Go, go, go.” 

Tim is waiting for them by the zeta-tube, his hands on his hips. “When I said ‘we have a mission’, did you hear ‘go hang out in the locker room’?” 

“Calm down, man, we’re coming,” Bart says, holding his hands up innocently. “Where are we off to?” 

“I’ve managed to locate the Scarab,” Tim tells them. “We’re going to retrieve it.” 

“Oh, lit, where?” Bart asks again. 

“You’ll know when we get there,” Tim says. 

“What if I want to know now?” Bart asks. 

“Bart, shut the fuck up,” Cassie sighs. 

“What, so we’re just going to blindly follow Timmy wherever he tells us to go? What if he’s wrong?” Bart asks. Cassie smacks his arm. “I’m being serious!” 

Tim glares at Bart. “I am never wrong.”

“You have been wrong so many times,” Conner points out. 

“Guys, we’re going, whether you like it or not,” Tim says sharply, narrowing his eyes at all of them. “I need you to respect me, okay? I’m your friend but I’m also the team leader, so you have to listen to me.” 

“Who said you’re the team leader?” Conner retorts. 

“You would never get anything done without me,” Tim states. 

“We never get anything done with you either,” Conner shoots back. 

“Okay,” Cassie says, holding a hand up before Tim can respond. “Let’s just go get this done and you guys can have your dick measuring contest later.” 

“It was not a dick measuring contest,” Tim protests. “I was just -”

“Trying to prove your dick is bigger than Conner’s,” Bart chimes in, clearly enjoying this. “It’s not, by the way.” 

“Bart,” Cassie says sharply. “Not now.” 

Tim gives Cassie a grateful look and claps his hands together. “Alright, team. Let’s get going.” 

They end up going to a high profile government lab in Texas. Tim hadn’t told Bart because he didn’t want him to run ahead and ruin the plan. They’d been looking for the Scarab since Bart showed up and he’s known to get over-excited about things. 

Cassie peers around the corner to see a guard coming her way. He stops in the trash duct room and she makes her way along the wall to where he is. She pulls her whip off of her belt and presses the button, so the long electric string burst out of the handle. He looks her way and she cracks the whip, wrapping it around his neck and pulling him aside silently. She elbows the back of his head and digs her heel into the crook of his knee. He slides down the wall to the floor and she brushes him aside with her foot. 

“You’re clear,” Tim’s voice buzzes into her ear through her comm unit. “But you’ve got to hurry, the next round is coming your way.”

“Great,” Cassie mumbles. She makes her way back up the ramp. “Why do I have to be the one to break in? Can’t you just, like, hack the security or something?”

“Can you please just trust me on this?” Tim says. 

Cassie vaults off of the ramp, slamming her feet into a guard and knocking him flat onto his face. She grabs his rifle and slings it over her shoulder. “Yeah, man. I’m heading in.”

The docking doors open as she walks towards them, and she slips in easily. 

“Get rid of the gun,” Tim tells her. “We don’t use those.”

“Why not?” Bart’s voice pipes up. “What’s your thing with guns?”

“His dad’s pro gun control,” Conner grumbles. 

“We are  _ all _ pro gun control,” Tim says. 

Cassie makes her way through the busy docking bay, hiding from the guards behind the cargo and lifts. She notices a bright blue object moving past her on the conveyor belt and almost chokes. “Shit, guys, I’ve got eyes on the Scarab.”

“You what?” Tim says. “Go get it!”

“This room is full of people, you stupid bitch, I can’t just  _ go get it _ _,”_ Cassie hisses. “It’s heading out of the docking bay to the control room. I’m going to follow it through.”

“Don’t get caught,” Tim warns her. “The control room has the most trained personnel.”

Cassie leaps onto the conveyor belt quietly and leans back against one of the boxes. “Don’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing.”

“No, you don’t,” Conner tells her, and they can all hear Bart cackling. 

The conveyor belt slides into the control room and Cassie rolls off, hitting the floor. A guard comes over and picks up the box with the Scarab in it. They put it on a table and leave it, going back to their computer for some reason. 

She crawls under the conveyor belt and makes her way through the control room without being seen by the personnel. The table with the Scarab is near the doors, isolated from the rest of the room. She pops up in front of the table and reaches out, grabbing the Scarab. 

“My heat sensors are picking up something heading straight towards you,” Tim warns. “I’m not sure what it is so just be careful.”

The doors hiss as they slide open and Cassie whips around to see a guard staring at her. He looks at her and then at the alarm button. She follows his gaze and pulls the rifle over her shoulder. 

“Don’t you dare,” she tells him. 

He slowly reaches for the alarm button and she lets out a round of bullets. He cries out and twists as he falls, his back slamming against the alarm button. 

Immediately, red lights start flashing and the alarm blares out over the loudspeaker. Cassie curses under her breath and sprints out of the control room.

“Well, you screwed that majorly,” Tim’s voice buzzes monotonously. “I told you to get rid of the gun.”

“Shut up and help me get out of here,” Cassie snaps, darting through the halls. 

She charges a group of guards, kicking the first one in the head. He falls back and she grabs him by the collar, slamming him into one of his other fellow guards. She knocks the last one down and digs her heel into the small of his back before heading back down to the docking bay. 

Once the doors open, she slides in and shoots two guards down. She kicks another guard into the stomach, knocking him into the guard behind him and effectively getting them out of the way. Bullets fly right by her head, taking out the guard behind her, and she whips around, whacking another guard with the body of her rifle. There’s a loud smacking sound from behind and she turns to see Conner and two guards slumping to the ground in front of him. 

“This was supposed to be a stealth mission,” he says.

Cassie grunts indignantly and shoots at another guard. “You think I don’t know that?”

“You’re lucky that you’ve got a winning personality and good looks,” Conner says. “Because you really suck at following directions.”

“You think I have a winning personality?” Cassie says. 

“Considering I know, like, fifteen people, and half of them are evil? Yeah, you’re pretty high up there.”

A guard tries to come up behind Conner and Cassie punches him in the face. A golf cart slams into the guards about to take Cassie. It halts abruptly and Bart looks over at them with a grin. 

“We only have room for one of you up here,” he says. “The other has to hop into the back with the rocket launcher.”

“Where the hell did you get a rocket launcher?” Conner asks. 

“It was already on here when I found it,” Bart says, shrugging. “Let’s go, Tim’s outside.”

Cassie climbs in the front seat, leaving Conner to get in the back, and Bart slams his foot onto the acceleration pedal. 

“Did you get the Scarab?” Bart asks. 

“I sure did,” Cassie says. “It was way easier than I thought it was gonna be.”

“Obviously it wasn’t if we’ve got security on our asses,” Conner snaps. 

Bart snorts and glances over his shoulder. “Conner, I’m gonna need that cargo door to be open very soon unless you want to die here.”

Conner points the rocket launcher at the door and opens fire, leaving a large, gaping, fiery hole in it. Bart presses a few buttons on the dashboard of the golf cart and it speeds up considerably, leaping through the hole to get to the exterior of the lab. He cusses when bright lights shine on them and slams his heel on the brake pedal. The golf cart lands, kicking up dust into the air as it slides on the gravel. 

“Well, shit,” Cassie deadpans, putting the Scarab into the storage hold of the golf cart. “Now what?”

“Getting caught was not part of the extraction plan, was it?” Conner asks, tightening his grip on the rocket launcher. 

Bart makes a noise of contempt and slams the heel of his hand on the steering wheel. Cassie pulls her rifle back over her shoulder and Conner points the rocket launcher along the line of guards surrounding them. 

“We need to formulate a plan and it needs to be quick,” Cassie tells them. “Bart, we’re going to -”

Loud cries are heard and the guards start getting knocked out one by one by an unseen force. Cassie sighs with relief and lowers her gun. Seemingly out of nowhere, Tim materializes, hitting a guard on the back of the head with his staff. Conner pats Cassie on the shoulder and they hop out of the golf cart to join in the fight. 

“Wait, you guys!” Bart protests, standing up.

“We can hold them off!” Cassie calls over her shoulder. “Just go!”

Bart reaches into Cassie’s seat and grabs the Scarab before abandoning the golf cart and running across the open plateau. The others make sure to clear a path for him as he zooms through the fight and leaps off the edge, holding the Scarab to his chest as he falls backwards off of the roof.

His back hits a hard surface and he scrambles to his feet, pulling open a hatch to enter their vehicle, a fortified van that Cassie lovingly dubbed ‘the Garbage Mobile,’ through the roof and hops in. The others soon follow after him and Tim pulls the hatch closed before heading up to the front to drive.

“Can I get a venti iced caramel macchiato?” Tim says, resting his arm on the car door. He turns back to the team. “You guys want anything?” 

“Java chip frappuccino with whip, please,” Cassie says, leaning forward. “Grande.” 

“Just, like, an iced coffee with whole milk,” Conner says. 

“Get me that pinkity drinkity,” Bart says excitedly. “I’ve never had it before.” 

Tim relays the orders and then pulls up to the pay window. 

“You’re -” the Starbucks employee is looking at him curiously. “You’re Robin?” 

“Yeah, you want a picture?” Tim replies tiredly. The Starbucks employee whips out her phone and takes a quick selfie before telling him his price. He gives her two twenties. “Keep the change. Thanks.” 

They get their drinks and continue on their way. 

“I feel much better now,” Cassie says, taking a picture of Conner holding their drinks for Snapchat. 

“Bruce is going to freak when he finds out,” Tim says. He takes a sip of his coffee. “He’s gonna ground me for a million years and we’re gonna get disbanded.” 

“We’re not gonna get disbanded,” Bart assures him. “He’s just going to yell at us for a bit and then tell us to clean up our mess.” 

“Yeah, probably.” Tim sighs. “It’s going to be okay.” 

“Speak it into existence,” Cassie encourages. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Tim repeats. 

He’s wrong though, because a boy bikes out right in front of them and he has to brake hard so they won’t have a vehicular manslaughter charge on top of everything else they’ve done today. It takes all of them by surprise and the bike boy goes sprawling onto the asphalt. 

“Holy shit,” Bart says, slamming his hand over the top of his drink. “What the fuck, Timothy?” 

“I -” Tim unbuckles his seatbelt. “I’m gonna go check on him.” 

The others follow him, Conner holding up the back. 

Bike Boy is lying on his back, a couple feet away from his mangled bike. 

“Oh my god, did we kill him?” Cassie whispers loudly. “That’s gonna look so bad on my college apps.” 

“He’s not dead,” Tim snaps. He kneels down and feels for a pulse anyways. 

Bart crouches next to him. “Oh shit, I was about to be mad at him for making me spill my pinkity drinkity but he’s kind of cute.”

“Bart, have some tact,” Conner reprimands. “He just got hit by a van.”

“Yeah, and he’s super cute,” Bart says. 

Bike Boy groans and tries to sit up suddenly. Tim puts a hand under his head to help him. “Hey, man, I’m so sorry, I hit you with my car.” 

“It’s all good,” Bike Boy slurs, giving a haphazard thumbs up. 

“Do you think he might have a concussion?” Cassie asks. She’s standing behind Conner, holding her drink daintily in her hand. “Maybe we should take him to a hospital.” 

“No!” Bike Boy protests quickly. “No hospital, I’m good, I’m fine.” 

“At least let us give you a ride home,” Tim says. “Or, to wherever you were going.”

“Are you kidnapping me?” Bike Boy says. He squints at them. “Oh my god, I’m getting kidnapped by superheroes. That’s kinda cool.”

“He is not okay,” Conner remarks. “We’re taking him to a hospital.” 

“I said no hospital,” Bike Boy says. “My mom would freak out.” 

“We’re taking you home, then,” Tim says. “Superboy, put his bike in the back, Impulse, help me get him into the van.” 

“It’s so cool when we use our team names,” Bart says, reaching around to haul Bike Boy to his feet. “Makes me feel like I’m a real superhero.” 

“You’re not real superheroes?” Bike Boy asks cluelessly. “I'm being kidnapped by LARPers?” 

Cassie yanks the door open. “That’s so frighteningly accurate, I hate it.” 

They all get situated in the van and Bike Boy finally seems to realize what’s going on when Tim starts driving again. 

“Oh, shit, you guys are that - you’re the kids,” he says, looking at them with wide eyes. 

“Yeah, hi, hello, I’m Impulse, super speedster,” Bart says, taking over introductions. “That’s Wonder Girl, she’s buff and beautiful.” Cassie smiles and holds up a peace sign. “Tall, dark, and handsome is Superboy, we’re all in love with him.” Conner snorts but smiles. “And your attacker slash savior is Robin, he’s a genius detective, hacker, and serious, genuine YouTuber.” 

“Batman just makes me record video logs to make him feel better about never actually being there for me,” Tim explains. “He was really broken up about - about the last Robin’s death, and he’s trying to step up about being a good mentor.”

“Yeah. You make vlogs,” Bart says. He turns to Bike Boy. “And you are?” 

“Uh, Jaime Reyes,” Bike Boy says awkwardly. 

“We’re sorry about hitting you,” Cassie says. “It was an accident.” 

“It’s all good,” Jaime assures them again. 

“Where am I heading, Jaime?” Tim asks. “Can you give me an address?” 

“1524 Procter Drive,” Jaime says. “It’s not far from here.”

Tim enters the address into the van’s GPS. “Alright, we’ll have you home in no time.”

“So, Jaime, where do you go school?” Bart asks, resting his chin on his fist. 

Jaime frowns a little and looks at Cassie, who just shrugs. “Coronado High School.”

“You got lots of friends?” Bart continues. “On any sports teams? You seem pretty fit.”

“I have a couple good friends,” Jaime says carefully. “Um, I’m in soccer. We do a lot of conditioning, running, my mom says I don’t eat enough, though.” 

“Do you like Starbucks?” 

“I guess. I don’t really go to Starbucks that often.”

Cassie leans back into her seat and watches Bart interrogate Jaime on basically everything. Jaime doesn’t particularly seem to mind and politely answers each question. Bart had been the exact same way when he met Conner, but that dwindled down as soon as they all found out that Conner wasn’t really that cool, he just wore a leather jacket and sunglasses to make up for it. 

They pull up in front of a cute brown house with a well manicured lawn. 

“I’m fine now, thanks,” Jaime says when Tim tries to help him out of the van. “You guys didn’t have to do this for me.”

“No problem, man,” Conner says. He pulls the bike out of the back effortlessly. “It was the least we could do.”

Tim rings the doorbell and smiles when the door opens. “Hi! We hit Jaime with our car so we decided to give him a ride home. He says he’s fine, but I would suggest having him rest for a bit, since collision injuries may not become apparent for a while. I’d like for him to be examined by a doctor as well, if that’s possible.”

_ “ Ay, pobrecito _ _,”_ the teenage boy standing in the door says with a grin on his face. He reaches out to pinch Jaime’s cheek. “Your mom is going to kill you.”

“Shut up, man,” Jaime mutters. He looks at Bart. “This is my cousin, Paco.”

“You guys are superheroes?” Paco asks. “Why’d you hit him with your car?”

“It was an accident, I didn’t see him,” Tim says quickly. He hands Jaime over to Paco. “Uh, where should we put his bike?”

“You can just leave it out in front of the garage, we’ll take care of it later,” Jaime says. 

“Thank you for getting him home safe,” Paco says genuinely, shaking Tim’s hand. 

“Of course,” Tim says. “Again, I’m really, really sorry about this.”

“It’s fine,” Jaime says. 

“Stay safe, Jaime,” Bart says, and he winks. “I’ll see you around.”

Cassie scoffs, and pushes Bart back towards the car. “Have a good night, you guys,” she says over her shoulder. 

“You too,” Paco says, and he closes the door. 

“You guys wanna have a sleepover tonight?” Tim offers as they all get back in the van. “I’m gonna need hella support after telling Batman about all of this.”

“Movie night!” Bart exclaims. “I really want to see that one boat movie Wally is always talking about.”

_ “ Titanic _ _?”_ Cassie asks, laughing.

“Yes!” 

Bart keeps babbling and Tim gets them back to the cave quickly. 

“Okay, um, who has the Scarab?” Tim asks, turning around in his seat. 

“Bart,” Cassie answers. “I gave it to him.”

Bart feels around his seat and his body. “Uh.”

Tim takes a deep breath. “Bart. What did you do with the Scarab?”

“I don’t know! I had it, I promise, I don’t know where it went,” Bart gushes, his face turning red. “Maybe it fell between the seats?”

“It’s not in the van,” Conner says flatly. “Bart, did you drop it while you were running off the roof?”

“No, I had it while we were getting Starbucks,” Bart insists. “I wouldn’t just drop something like that.”

“Oh my god,” Cassie says, sliding down in her seat. “Oh my god, oh. My god.”

“Cassie, what is it?” Tim asks cautiously. 

“Jaime,” she says. 

“Let me get this straight.” The kids are sitting on the couch in the team room, looking everywhere but at Batman, who is currently lecturing them. Superman and Red Tornado are standing a couple feet behind him, looking generally disappointed. “You almost got caught breaking into a government facility. You stole the Scarab. You hit a kid with your car and gave him a ride home, which subsequently led to you losing the Scarab, which was  _ the one thing that you were trying to get in the first place .” _

“Well, yeah, but you make it sound bad when you say it like that,” Tim mumbles. 

“And then you wasted my money on Starbucks,” Batman continues, his voice hard. 

“I’m sorry,” Tim says. 

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Tim,” Batman snaps. “You could have gotten caught, you could have gotten killed, and now the Scarab is somewhere out there with a civilian. Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“I know, but -”

“From now on, you will not do anything without Red Tornado’s explicit permission and supervision,” Batman says. “And you will take care of this before it gets worse. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Tim says, and the rest of the team utter their agreements. 

Batman lets out a sigh. “Go home, all of you.” 

“We’re staying here tonight,” Tim says. 

“No, you’re not,” Batman replies. “You’re grounded.”

“Bruce,” Superman says quietly. 

“Fine.” Batman points a finger at Tim. “After this, you are grounded.” 

Tim nods his assent and Batman leaves, followed by Red Tornado. Conner gets up but doesn’t get a word out before Superman is gone too. 

“That was tough,” Bart says, rubbing Tim’s shoulder. “You okay?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Tim says. 

“Let’s go make some coffee,” Bart suggests, and the two of them go into the kitchen. 

Cassie stays in the team room and watches Conner. She doesn’t know what he wants to say to Superman but she knows that he wants to be heard. She knows that it’s hard to not be heard. 

“Hey, man,” she says and he turns to face her after a couple seconds. “I can’t say I know how you feel, but you can talk to me. You can talk to any of us, you know that. We’ve all got daddy issues.” 

Conner sits down on the edge of the couch beside her. “He’s not even my dad.” 

“Do you  _ want _ him to be your dad?” Cassie asks. 

“I don’t know,” Conner admits. “I just don’t want to be alone.” 

Cassie’s heart really almost breaks and she puts a hand on Conner’s shoulder. “You’re not alone.” 

“I just feel like he doesn’t want anything to do with me,” Conner continues. “I don’t know, it’s like he hates me. I don’t want him to hate me, I really want him to like me.” 

“Look, man, you don’t owe him anything,” Cassie says. Conner looks at her. “You didn’t ask for this, you didn’t ask to be made. It’s his responsibility to mentor you, but if he’s not doing that, then that’s his fault, not yours. If he doesn’t give a shit about you, you don’t need to give a shit about him.” 

“That’s easier said than done, though,” Conner says. “I’m literally him, I’m an actual clone of him. I can’t just not give a shit.” 

“I know,” Cassie says. “Look, if he’s really the hero everyone says he is, he’ll warm up to you. If not, you’ll learn to live with it and you’ll be okay.” 

“I don’t want to, though,” Conner says. He sounds like a child but Cassie can’t blame him. “I want him to want me the way I want him. It’s like every time he looks at me, he has so much disappointment in his eyes and it reminds me of everything I hate about myself.” 

Cassie grabs Conner’s face, forcing him to look at her. “I know it’s hard, but your happiness should not be dependent on what he thinks of you. You’re kind and smart and brave, and you did all of that without him. You can be your own person.” 

“I don’t know how,” Conner whispers. 

“You don’t have to know now,” Cassie says. “You can learn.” 

“Kiss now, please,” Bart says, appearing behind them. 

“Bart, shut the hell up,” Tim states loudly as he rejoins them. 

“I am just trying to usher along young love,” Bart says. 

“I don’t even have time to explain how much this  _ isn’t _ your business,” Cassie says.

Bart narrows his eyes and leans in close to Conner. “I’ll give you seven dollars.”

“Bart, you cannot sell Cassie like she is a piece of meat,” Tim says. 

“That is  _ not  _ what I was -”

“Jesus christ, let’s just watch  _ Titanic,”  _ Cassie says, grabbing the TV remote. 

“No, please, I cannot cry anymore tonight,” Tim protests. 

“You cried during  _ Titanic?” _ Conner asks incredulously. 

“It’s a sad movie!” Tim snaps. “Can we please just watch something else?” 

Cassie turns on the TV. “Someone go get Tim some tissues .” 


	2. fast times at coronado high

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: there is a school shooting in this chapter, and people get injured. we don't see or interact with the shooter but it is a shooting and it's kind of hard. if you don't want to read that, you can skip from "It takes two more weeks for everything to go haywire." to the end of the chapter, and i'll sum up anything important that happened in the notes down there. stay safe!

“Okay,” Tim says, straightening out Bart’s collar. “I sorted everything out for you, you just go to the counseling office and say that you’re a new student, they’ll have your schedule. You’ve got four classes with him, which should be enough for you to befriend him.”

“I’m so excited,” Bart says. He’s basically vibrating in anticipation. “I’ve never been to a high school before.”

“Yeah, but you watched  _ High School Musical, _ right?” Cassie says, and Bart nods. “It’s basically just like that.”

“But don’t start singing unless someone else is singing with you,” Conner says. 

“Okay.” Bart shakes out his arms. “I got this.” 

“Yeah, you do,” Cassie says, smacking his back. “You’re going to crush it, man.” 

“I’m gonna suck his dick,” Bart says. 

“Maybe wait a bit before you do that,” Conner suggests. 

“Okay,” Bart says. “I’m going to school.”

“You’re gonna hate it,” Tim promises. “But you’ll be okay. Text us if anything happens, and have fun!” 

Bart is pushed out of the van and he’s standing on the front lawn of Coronado High School. It has the feel of an east coast school, with brick walls and marble arches and octagonal windows. Vines climb up the exterior walls of the school, just barely creeping over the top. There’s something almost eerie about the school, set against rolling hills and gray skies. Students are milling around, filtering in and out of the doors, going into different buildings. 

Bart confidently walks into the main hall and finds his way to what looks like an office. There’s a woman sitting behind a desk with lots of papers and a mug with pens. 

“Hi,” he says. “I’m looking for the counseling office?” 

“It’s right through that door,” the woman tells him, barely sparing him a glance. 

He mutters a thank you and follows her instructions to find a much larger office. 

“Um, hi, I’m supposed to get my schedule here,” he says to another woman behind another desk. 

“Oh! You must be Bart Allen!” She gets up and comes around the desk to shake his hand. “I’m Ms. Parker, I’m the registrar. I have your schedule right here and I’ll be taking you to your first class.” 

Bart takes the half sheet of paper shoved in his hand and lets himself get ushered back out of the office. “Okay.” 

“Where are you transferring here from?” Ms. Parker asks.

Bart lets himself panic for a second before glancing around the hall. “Rancho Carne High School,” he says, hoping that Ms. Parker hasn’t recently seen  _ Bring It On.  _

“Oh, where is that?” she asks. 

“San Diego,” Bart replies. 

“Big move,” Ms. Parker remarks, seeming impressed for some reason. “How are you liking it here in El Paso?” 

“It’s nice, I guess.” Bart doesn’t know how much longer it’s going to take to get to this class but he prays that it’ll be soon.

He listens to Ms. Parker talk about how much he’s going to love the school and he wonders if this is how Cassie feels whenever he talks about literally anything. 

“This is your first class,” Ms. Parker says, opening a door for him. “Precalculus.” 

Ms. Parker introduces him to the teacher and gives him an awkward hug before leaving. The teacher, a bored old man named Mr. Gates, tells him where to sit. 

It’s a couple minutes before the bell rings and students start to come into the classroom. Bart sits alert, his eyes glued to the door, waiting for Jaime to come in. 

And then he does. 

Jaime is so much more handsome than Bart remembers. Maybe it’s because last time he’d been hit by a car and a little out of it, and today he’s fresh and clean, and wearing black jeans that aren’t quite skinny but fit very well. 

Bart’s heart leaps into his throat when Jaime sits down in the seat next to his. 

“Hey,” the girl sitting in front of Bart says. “You new here?” 

“Yes,” Bart says. “I’m Bart.” 

“I’m Brenda,” the girl says. “That’s Jaime.” 

Jaime gives a little wave. “Hi.” 

“What classes do you have?” Brenda asks, and Bart hands her his schedule. “Oh, damn, you’re in, like, all of Jaime’s classes.” 

“Really?” Jaime takes the schedule and looks it over. “That’s cool, man, I can show you around.” 

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Bart says, his cheeks heating up. “I’d really appreciate that.” 

“No problem,  _ ese,”  _ Jaime says, smiling. 

Bart almost pees his pants but the teacher calls everyone’s attention to the front of the classroom before any more progress can be made. 

Bart follows Jaime around like a lost puppy until lunch and he doesn’t want to ever leave his side. 

Jaime is so nice it makes Bart want to become a better person. He’s never met someone that’s nice like Jaime is. Cassie and Conner and Tim are nice and wonderful or whatever, but Jaime is just so good. 

He keeps a hand on the small of Bart’s back as he guides him through the school and is extremely patient whenever Bart has a question. He makes Bart feel safe and protected, which isn’t exactly something he wants, he’s always cherished his independence, but it’s really nice when Jaime reaches an arm out to stop a door from slamming into them. 

Jaime drops Bart off at his fifth period (world history) and waves goodbye with a promise to come find him at the end of the day. 

Bart thinks he’s in love. 

He gets a chance to check his phone before class starts and finds messages from the team.

**identity crisis anonymous (4)**

**tim:** It’s been hours, Bart, what’s going on? 

**bart:** I’m in class right now! 

**cassie:** bitch me too the fuck 

**conner:** hell yeah man fuck the school system 

**bart:** I don’t want to make a bad first impression on the teacher!! 

**cassie:** you made a bad impression just by showing up as yourself 

**tim:** Hi, this group chat has a zero tolerance policy on bullying. 

**conner:** ok nerd

Bart pockets his phone and makes it through the next two hours (he has English 10 after) without trouble and finds Jaime waiting outside his class for him at 2:40PM when the bell rings. 

“How was your first day?” Jaime asks, looping his thumbs through his backpack straps. 

“Good,” Bart says, grinning. “Great, thanks to you!” 

Jaime smiles. “It’s all good.” 

“Hey, what’s your phone number? I gotta go home and help my parents unpack but we should hang out,” Bart says. 

“Sure thing, man,” Jaime says, holding his hand out for Bart’s phone. He types his number in and sends himself a text. “Text me anytime. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, bye!” Bart watches as Jaime meets Paco at the bike racks and has to force the stupid smile off of his face. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls Tim. 

“Are you done?” Tim asks immediately. “Should I come pick you up?” 

“Uh, no, that’s okay, I’ll meet you guys at the cave?” Bart says, trying to find a secluded spot in the school he can take off from. 

“Sure,” Tim says. “Want me to get you something from Starbucks?” 

“Oh, just an Americano,” Bart says. “Thanks, boo.” 

“Yeah,” Tim snorts and then hangs up. 

Cassie and Conner are in the kitchen talking about something for school when Bart gets to the cave.

“Hey, high schooler,” Cassie says, looking up from her iPad. “How was your first day?”

“I’ve planned my wedding,” Bart answers. 

Conner raises his eyebrows. “Wedding planning should take longer than one day.”

“I’m a super speedster,” Bart says dismissively. “Where’s Tim?”

“Changing out of his uniform,” Conner says. “Unfortunately.” 

“What, no, I missed Tim’s school uniform ass?” Bart whines. “Damn it. I love it when he wears that.” 

“Hey, if it was up to me, he would  _ always _ be wearing his school uniform,” Cassie says wistfully. She gestures at the counter. “Your drink is there and we picked up some pizza for you on the way here.” 

“You guys are the best parents ever,” Bart states, grabbing a paper towel. “I love you.”

“Yeah, we try,” Conner says. “Wash your hands before you eat.” 

Tim comes into the kitchen barefoot, looking more tired than usual. “Hey, Cass, could you make me some coffee please?”” 

“Or you could, like, go take a nap,” Cassie suggests, but she turns on the Keurig anyways.

“No,” Tim says. He looks at Bart. “How’d it go?” 

“He’s getting married to Jaime,” Conner says. He leans forward on the counter. “Dude, you should really get some sleep, you look like actual shit.” 

“Thanks, that’s what I was going for,” Tim drawls. “Do we know if the Scarab fused itself to his spine?” 

Bart shrugs. “I don’t think so, he seems totally normal, very calm and cool, very handsome, the man of my dreams.” 

“Okay? Have a sleepover at his house or something,” Tim says. He takes the mug that Cassie hands him. “Find that Scarab and wrap this up.” 

“I can’t just invite myself over to his house for a sleepover,” Bart points out. 

“You do it with me all the time,” Cassie says. “My mom got special sheets for you so you don’t overheat while you sleep.” 

“And I love her for that, but I just met Jaime today, we’re not even close friends yet,” Bart points out. 

“You’ve got four days before the weekend to make him fall in love with you and invite you to a sleepover and just get the Scarab back,” Tim says. “I’m gonna go do some homework.” 

“Thirty minutes and then I’m turning off the WiFi and you’re taking a nap,” Cassie tells him pointedly. “You can’t operate on zero hours of sleep.” 

“I’m the world’s greatest detective, don’t think I won’t get around it,” Tim yells back, leaving the room. 

Cassie sighs and looks at Conner. “He can’t be helped.” 

“We could tell Dick,” Conner says. “Or slip some Benadryl into his food and just knock him the fuck out.” 

“Somehow, that seems like a terrible idea,” Bart says. 

“Anyways.” Cassie hands Bart a slice of pizza after making sure that he washed his hands. “How were your classes? Do you think you can handle them?”

“Yeah, it was super fun!” Bart excitedly hops up onto a stool, resting his elbows on the counter. “Precalculus and physics were cool, and then I have photography and Latin with Jaime too, he’s the best, and I know literally nothing, so history was really fun, and then I don’t know, we’re reading, like, a book in English called  _ Tale of Two Cities, _ not sure what it is but it’s cool, I guess.”

“Sounds fun,” Cassie says, smiling. “Just don’t overwork yourself, we don’t want you burning out, okay? Take it easy. None of us care if you do well in school.”

_ “I  _ care,” Bart says. “And my grandparents will care.”

“Screw your grandparents, they’re not even pregnant yet,” Cassie says lightheartedly. “But for real, man. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Bart finishes off his slice of pizza. “Nothing is ever hard for me, Cass. Don’t worry about it.”

School is easier than Cassie and Tim made it out to be, probably because they’re working a lot harder than he is (they’re both taking multiple APs and in clubs), and he generally doesn’t care much for it anyways. 

It’s on Friday afternoon when Jaime asks Bart if he wants to come over to his house to study and hang out. They’re standing outside the school and Paco is waiting at the bike racks, watching them curiously. 

“Yeah,” Bart says. “Yes, oh my god, yeah.” 

“Well, let’s go then,” Jaime says, smiling. 

Bart’s heart does somersaults in his chest. “Okay.” 

“You can climb on the back,” Jaime says, mounting his bike. He shoves a helmet into Bart’s hands. “Put this on.”

Because he hadn’t been given much of a choice, Bart secures the helmet on his head and cautiously steps onto the rods of the back wheel on the bicycle. He puts his hands on Jaime’s shoulders and then they’re off. 

This isn’t something that Bart has ever done in his life. He’s never ridden a bicycle before. He’s never gone over to a friend’s house to study. 

He has never trusted someone like he trusts Jaime. 

He can’t say why he trusts Jaime. He doesn’t know. All he knows was that there’s a feeling he has deep in his gut that’s telling him that he has to hold on tight and not let go.

The surprisingly pleasant ride soon comes to an end when Jaime slows to a halt in the driveway of their destination. He swings his leg over the bicycle and helps Bart down before pulling his helmet off and hooking it onto the handlebars. 

Jaime’s house is cuter and brighter during the day and there are flower planters under the windows that Bart hadn’t noticed before. 

“My grandma and my sister are home right now and my grandma barely speaks English, so don’t mind her,” Jaime says, putting his bike on the side of the house. 

“Paco doesn’t live with you?” Bart asks curiously, thinking about how Paco had opened the door when they took him home that one night. 

Jaime raises an eyebrow. “Uh, no? They live a couple blocks over, but they come over a lot.” 

“That’s cool,” Bart says. “I don’t see my cousins that much. They live far away.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jaime says absentmindedly. He opens the door and lets Bart in before him. “I’m home!” 

There’s commotion and then a girl just a bit younger than them pokes her head around a corner. “Hey. Who’s this?”

“My friend, Bart,” Jaime says, putting a hand on Bart’s shoulder. Bart waves. “Bart, this is my sister, Milagro.”

_ “No mames, wey,”  _ Milagro says excitedly.  _ “The  _ Bart? Wow. I’m a huge fan.”

_ “Ya cállate,” _ Jaime hisses. Milagro gives him a thumbs up and retreats back into her room. “We’ll go to my room, you can leave your shoes here.” 

Bart slips his shoes off and leaves them on the welcome mat before following Jaime through a hallway and past the kitchen to get to his room. 

It’s exactly what Bart expected it to look like. The bed is made but a little messy, there’s a desk covered with papers and trinkets, there’s a chair in the corner with a pile of clothes on it, and a dresser with awards on the top. There are glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling. There’s no sign of the Scarab, but Bart doesn’t think that Jaime would just leave something like that on the floor anyways. 

“Your room is  _ so _ cool,” Bart says genuinely. 

Jaime barely blushes but Bart catches it. “Thanks, I guess. You can use the desk,” he says, shoving the clothing pile into his closet. 

Bart sits down in the chair and spins around. “I don’t have a desk in my room.” 

“Really? Your room’s pretty small then?” Jaime says conversationally. He takes a seat on his bed and starts pulling things out of his backpack. 

“Yeah, but it’s fine, I don’t spend a lot of time in it anyways, I just sleep there,” Bart says. “Do you want to go over Latin? We got that quiz next week.”

Jaime blinks. “Oh. Yeah, sure.”

“You’re super good at Latin, I’m kinda jealous,” Bart says, flipping through his notebooks. “I suck at languages, man.”

“It’s just about remembering stuff,” Jaime says. Bart watches him sort through a pack of flashcards. “Latin is harder than Spanish or French because it’s a dead language, but it’s easier if you focus on the roots and the vocabulary rather than the grammar.”

Bart doesn’t really know what to do with that information but anything sounds perfect coming out of Jaime’s mouth so he eagerly listens. 

They make their way through a couple of study sheets before Bart gets so bored that he’s almost bouncing off of the walls. 

“You wanna get something to eat?” Jaime asks, slightly smiling. 

Bart’s cheeks heat up as he stops spinning the chair. “Yes, yes, I do.” 

“Come on, then.” Jaime leads him back through the hallway to the kitchen. “Are you allergic to anything?” 

“Red dye,” Bart says forlornly, taking a seat at the counter. 

“Okay, well, I don’t know if that’s in any of the stuff we have, so I’ll just, like, avoid red food, I guess,” Jaime replies, opening up the pantry. “Do you like, um. Bread?” 

Bart snorts. “I love bread, dude.” 

Jaime laughs and puts a loaf of bread on the counter, but he’s stopped when a woman comes in and puts a bowl in the sink. 

“ _ Ya, papito, ¿que estás haciendo? _ ” she says, knocking the back of his head. “ _ No somos pobres. Haz algo rico para tu amigo gringo. _ ”

Bart cluelessly watches as Jaime sighs and starts putting the bread into the toaster. 

“It doesn’t matter _ , _ ” Jaime says tiredly. “ _ Le gusta pan, me gusta pan. Vamos a comer pan si queremos. _ ”

“ _ Mira con quién estás hablando, mijito _ ,” the woman, Bart’s guessing it’s the grandma, warns in a low voice. 

“Oh my god, I’m making sandwiches _ , _ ” Jaime says. “Okay?” 

His grandma doesn’t look impressed but she pats him on the shoulder and gives Bart a friendly smile before leaving. 

“What was that about?” Bart asks curiously. “Were you talking about me?” 

“Not really,” Jaime tells him. “She wanted me to make you something better than bread.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Bart says. 

“I know.” Jaime smiles at him. “What do you like in your sandwiches?” 

“I like everything in my sandwiches,” Bart admits sheepishly. “Except, uh, red dye.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jaime says. 

He moves around the kitchen with ease, kind of like how Cassie does but better because he’s Jaime Reyes and Bart is in love with him. Milagro pops in to grab some chips from the pantry and says something that Bart, again, cannot understand, to which Jaime tells her to leave the kitchen immediately. It’s really nice seeing a family interact like this, since Bart didn’t really have the luxury of a domestic home life growing up. Yeah, living with his grandparents is really nice but it’s not a Family family. Jaime’s got a Family family. 

“When do you practice for soccer?” Bart asks, swinging his legs. 

Jaime looks at him curiously. “Uh, soccer season was in the fall,” he says. “We just have conditioning once a week this time of the year.”

“Oh.” Bart rests his chin on his fist. “What do you do for conditioning?”

“Basically just running exercises,” Jaime says. “Not much actual soccer. You ever played soccer?”

“I barely know what it is,” Bart says. “I’ve never been a big sports fan, to be honest.”

“That’s valid,” Jaime says, shrugging. “What do you like, then?”

Bart blanks. He really doesn’t do much of anything other than eat and fight evil magic villains, but it’s not like he can just say ‘making sure that justice is served’ is his hobby. “Um. I like Chex Mix.”

Jaime lets out a surprised laugh and slides a plate over to Bart. “Dude, I  _ know _ you like to eat. Do you do, like, anything else?”

“I do lots of stuff,” Bart says. He picks up his sandwich and inspects it. “I watch a lot of movies?” 

“Yeah? What’s your favorite movie?” Jaime asks. 

“I love  _ Mamma Mia,”  _ Bart says. “I really like those movies that have songs in them.”

Jaime raises his eyebrows. “You like musicals?”

“Oh, I loved  _ High School Musical.” _ Bart takes a bite of his sandwich. “Holy shit, this is good.”

“It’s just chicken and avocado,” Jaime says. “Anyone could make it.”

Bart shrugs. “I’m known to be a menace in the kitchen. One time I forgot to turn off the oven and nearly burned down my house.”

“I think that’s less about cooking and more about you just forgetting to turn off the oven,” Jaime says flatly. “I’m sure you could make an avocado and chicken sandwich just fine.”

“I once made cookies with three cups of salt instead of three cups of sugar,” Bart says.

Jaime laughs some more and Bart thinks that he would do anything to keep him laughing like that. 

It takes two more weeks for everything to go haywire. 

Jaime’s really nice and his friends are really nice. Paco’s sense of humor is really similar to Bart’s and Brenda is one of the sweetest people that he’s ever met. He really likes the idea of spending the rest of his life with these people, but, like, he can’t so it’s not a big deal or anything. 

Bart’s sitting bored in world history when it happens. The girl in front of him, he thinks her name is Madison (?), is painting her nails and the teacher is lecturing about the rise of communism in Europe and Asia. 

And then they all hear it. Two loud bangs, so familiar to Bart that he immediately drops under his desk and puts his hands over his head. 

“Uh, bro.” A foot nudges Bart and he looks up to see the boy in the seat next to his looking at him curiously. “You good?” 

“Get down,” Bart is barely able to get out before there are more shots and they start to hear screaming coming from down the hall. 

The teacher rushes to lock the door and instructs everyone to get on the floor. 

**identity crisis support group (4)**

**bart:** MAYDAY MAYDAY 

**tim:** ??

**bart:** SCHOOL SHOOTER PLS GET HERE QUICK

**cassie:** i’m on my way. 

**conner:** can you get anyone out of there right now? 

**bart:** I’m in class I can’t just start super speeding people out 

**conner:** who gives a shit dude you gotta save people 

**tim:** That’s enough. Bart, do what you think is right and we’ll be there as soon as possible. 

It’s eerily quiet in the classroom for way too long. Everyone is holding their breath, waiting for something to happen so they can start breathing again. 

Bart screws his eyes shut. He’s seen too many people die. He didn’t come to the past so it could keep happening to him. 

There’s a loud knock on the door and Madison grabs his hand. He squeezes back to let her know that they’re going to be okay. 

“Is everyone good in there?” a tinny voice calls out. “I’m here to help you get out, can you tell me if everyone is safe?” 

Nobody moves. 

“Okay, well, I’ll come back later and check on you guys,” the voice says. 

It’s quiet for a little while longer and then there’s another knock on the door. “Hello? This is -”

“Robin!” Bart recognizes the voice immediately and rushes to open the door. Tim stares back at him solemnly through his cowl. “Did you catch the guy?” 

“Cassie’s got it, there’s something you need to see out front. Right now I need to get you and your class out of here,” Tim tells him, his voice low, and then he turns his attention to the rest of the class. “The shooter has been apprehended, we’re evacuating the school now, everyone, please exit the building as calmly as possible.” 

Tim herds them out of the classroom and they join the rest of the school on the front lawn. There are students and faculty members filtering out of all the buildings slowly, all of them checked by a security guard at the exits. 

“Bart,” Tim says when everyone is out of the school. “Come with me.” 

Bart gives his teacher a shrug and then falls into step beside Tim. “Please tell me no one died.” 

“Five injured, no casualties yet, knock on wood,” Tim says. “Shooter was going to kill himself but Cassie was able to talk him down.”

They’re joined by Cassie and Conner eventually, and Cassie engulfs Bart in a hug as soon as she sees him. 

“Oh my god, are you okay?” she asks, holding his face. “That must have been terrifying, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” 

“I’m fine, Cass,” Bart assures her. “I’ve been through worse before.” 

“Bart, there’s something you need to see,” Conner says, tugging him away from Cassie. 

He spins him around to face the front of the school where there are ambulances and fire trucks and police cruisers. 

And a tall, masked figure, clad in a skintight black and blue suit, with wings protruding from his back is talking to a couple police officers. 

“No,” Bart says.

“He was the one that stopped the shooter, and got the injured out here to safety. He told us where to find the shooter,” Tim says. “I think he’s okay.” 

“What do you mean ‘okay’?” Bart snaps, whirling on Tim. “The Scarab fused to his spine, it’s  _ killing _ him, and he’s stuck with it until he dies! He’s a good person and the Reach is going to turn him into something he’s not. I failed my mission.” 

“You didn’t fail,” Cassie says. “Scarabs are supposed to totally control their hosts, right? This one obviously isn’t and Jaime’s using it to do a little good. Maybe we can keep him from turning evil, before the Reach can get to him.” 

“You don’t get it,” Bart says. “The Reach won’t give up just because of a malfunctioning Scarab. My mission is to stop them, but I can’t do that if it’s Jaime.”

“We’re going to figure something out,” Tim tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll protect Jaime from the Reach, but right now you need to get back to your teacher. I put down Barry and Iris as your legal guardians, they’ll be here to pick you up soon. We’ll talk more later, okay?” 

Cassie gives him one last hug before sending him sullenly back to his class. 

“You know them?” Madison asks when he sits down in the grass beside her. 

“We’ve met before,” Bart says idly. 

“Superboy is so hot,” Madison sighs. “Do you know if he’s dating anyone?” 

Bart looks at Madison. “No, I don’t  _ fucking _ know.” 

Slowly, the students start leaving and the commotion dies down a little. Bart stays where he is, picking at the small flowers growing in the grass. 

“Bart, thank goodness you’re okay!” He’s pulled to his feet and into a hug from Paco. “Have you seen Jaime? I can’t find him anywhere.” 

“Uh.” Bart has no idea what to say. “I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe he’s talking to the police or something.” 

“I’m going to keep looking for him,” Paco says. 

“Do you want me to help?” Bart asks. 

“No, man, that’s okay,” Paco says, hugging him again. “Let me know if you see him?”

“Sure thing, bro,” Bart says, and Paco disappears. 

He watches as the Blue Beetle takes off and knows he doesn’t have to worry for Paco. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so basically, if anyone didn't read the shooting scene, what we find out is that the Scarab has already fused itself to Jaime, and Jaime suited up as Blue Beetle to deal with the school shooter.
> 
> hi, i also wanted to say that for some reason, i always imagined Milagro to be like two years younger than Jaime, so she's like 14 here, even though she's usually much younger


	3. movin' right along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, so, I have Cassie's mother as half-Vietnamese here (her mother is Viet, her dad is, well. Zeus) so Cassie herself is only a quarter Vietnamese, but since Zeus didn't really participate in raising her mother, the culture in their home is pretty dominantly Vietnamese, so yeah, anyways, Cassie's mom does speak Vietnamese in this chapter, but unlike in the previous one where Jaime speaks Spanish with his family and Bart doesn't understand, I'll have it translated, since it's from Cassie's point of view, and she does understand Vietnamese.

School is cancelled for Bart for the next week so he goes back to dicking around aimlessly in the cave. He’s mopy and moody so Cassie elects to let him be until he’s ready to talk. Unfortunately, she has an essay to write and three midterms to study for, so she can’t dwell on it. 

“Jeremy said that he’s planning a huge thing to ask Tiffany to, uh, prom,” Conner says. They’re in a study room at the library but Cassie’s the only one getting anything done. Conner started to hang around with her more often when Tim was grounded, and even though the punishment had been lifted, Bruce made sure that Tim was too busy with school stuff to mess around with Conner, so Cassie’s been stuck with him. She isn’t complaining though, it’s nice to have company. “I was too scared to ask what prom is.”

Cassie looks up from her laptop. “You want me to tell you what prom is?”

“I was literally born last year,” Conner reminds her. “There are a lot of things that I don’t know and you’re the only person I can ask.”

“God, you’re so dramatic,” Cassie says. “You could ask Tim or Bart or Nightwing, honestly, you could probably ask Luthor.”

“I’m not going to ask Luthor,” Conner states. “Tim’s too busy to talk to me and Bart’s in a mood, and I barely know Dick.”

“You know him well enough to call him Dick,” Cassie points out. 

“Can you just tell me what prom is?” Conner asks. 

“Prom is a big school dance that’s held in May,” Cassie explains. “It’s way fancier than homecoming, and only seniors and juniors are allowed to go to it. I think it’s going to be at a golf club this year.”

“Are you going?” Conner asks. 

“I wasn’t really planning on it,” Cassie says. “Tickets are hella expensive and I can just go next year.”

Conner rolls closer to her in his chair. “You can’t not go just because you can’t afford it. Ask Tim for some money.”

“I’m not going to ask Tim for money,” Cassie says. “It’s not a big deal.”

“You can save up for it,” Conner suggests. “It’s in May. You got, like, two months.”

Cassie closes her laptop and looks at Conner for a very long time. “Why do you want me to go to prom?”

“I don’t want you to not go to prom,” Conner says and Cassie doesn’t buy it. He sighs and slides down in his chair so that his face is barely visible above the table. “The guys want me to go but they all have dates so they want me to have a date and you’re my only other friend.”

“Are you asking me to the prom?” Cassie says incredulously. She’s never been asked to join a club before let alone asked to the prom. 

“You know what, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Conner says, opening up his binder for the first time. 

“No, no, no, don’t apologize yet,” Cassie rushes, waving her hands. “I’ll go with you.” 

Conner blinks at her. “Huh?” 

“I will go to the prom with you,” Cassie says,  _ “if  _ you pay for my ticket.” 

“Oh, thank god.” Conner sighs with relief. 

“Okay, hang on, though,” Cassie says, clearly not finished. “Don’t let your friends stress you out like that, man. Prom isn’t gonna be for a while and it’s not that important.”

“I know, it’s just that they really want me to go and I don’t want to disappoint them,” Conner says. 

Cassie registers this and takes a deep breath. “Do you have some weird complex about disappointing people? Is it because of Superman?” 

“Oh my god, you have taken one semester of psychology,” Conner groans, pushing away from the table. “I really don’t want to talk about this.” 

“I was just wondering,” Cassie says. She holds her hands up in surrender. “But you know you have to figure this out at some point if you want to be happy with yourself.” 

“Not right now, Cassie,” Conner says. 

Cassie shrugs and opens her laptop to continue working on her essay. “Whatever you say, man.” 

“Can I copy your stats homework?” Conner asks, quickly changing the subject. 

“Dude, how are you going to graduate high school if you never do any of your own fucking work?” Cassie snaps, but she hands him a packet of paper from her folder. 

“I’ll just suck my counselor’s dick or something, I don’t know,” Conner says. “I’m Superboy. I can do anything.” 

“Except your homework, apparently.” 

“Fuck you, you copy and paste from the analysis section on Sparknotes to write your essays.” 

“I put that shit through Google Translate first and you know it.” 

“I got asked to the prom.” 

Cassie’s mom looks up from where she’s making chicken congee at the stove. “By who?” 

“You remember Conner? He came over once so we could study together,” Cassie says. “He’s Jewish.” 

“Ah, I remember him,” Cassie’s mom says, nodding. “He’s not good at math.” 

“He’s, like, average at math,” Cassie says. “I mean, I’m better than him but he’s not bad at it or anything.” 

“You tell him no?” her mom says, more a statement than a question. 

Cassie looks down her hands resting on the counter and braces herself. “I told him yes?” 

_ “Quynh.”  _ Cassie knows that she’s in deep shit when she uses her Vietnamese name. Her mom didn’t want her to have any trouble fitting in at school when she was younger so she gave her an American name and they mostly just speak English in the house, so this means that Cassie is about to get her ass handed to her on a plate.  _ “What makes you think you can go to the prom?” _

“He asked and I wanted to go, so I just said yes,” Cassie explains in a small voice, and she knows that’s a terrible response but she doesn’t know what else to say. “He said he’ll pay for it.”

_ “You think you can do anything just because you want to?” _ Her tone is so different when she speaks Vietnamese that it almost gives Cassie whiplash. There’s no hesitation or awkward word flow. She knows what she wants to say and she knows how to say it.  _ “I let you do this superhero thing because you wanted to. I let you dye your hair blonde because you wanted to. There has to be a limit somewhere. You are not an adult, you cannot make these decisions for yourself.”  _

“Mom,” Cassie says, frowning. “What are you even talking about?” 

_ “You’re letting this boy take you to prom?”  _ her mom says.  _ “What else are you letting him do to you?”  _

“Oh my god!” Cassie says. “He’s just a friend, it’s not like that.” 

_ “You do not get to have a boyfriend unless everything else in your life is perfect,” _ her mom tells her.  _ “You don’t have a college degree, you don’t have a boyfriend.”  _

“That’s ridiculous, I can’t just not date until I’m out of college,” Cassie says. 

Her mom slams her fist on the counter and she takes a step backwards.  _ “I did not risk my life to get you here so you could abandon the opportunities I made for you and throw yourself at some boy.” _

“I already told you that it’s not like that,” Cassie insists. “Being successful and having a boyfriend are not mutually exclusive.” 

_ “You’re not going to prom,”  _ her mom says flatly. “That’s final.”

Cassie takes a deep breath and nods. She can’t fight her mother. She  _ won’t _ fight her mother. 

That isn’t what they do. 

“Go finish homework.” Her mom turns back to the stove. “I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

Cassie goes to her room even though she finished all of her homework at the library. Her mother is strict. She knows this, and it’s always been like that, but she’s never been unreasonable. Everything that Cassie does is to make her mother proud. Becoming Wonder Girl was the first time that she went against her mother’s wishes. She knows that her mother hates it whenever she’s in danger and she will always be in danger as long as she is Wonder Girl. 

Prom is different. It’s not saving the world, it’s a school dance. She’s gone to homecoming and the winter formal, so it’s not like school dances are new and foreign to her, and she wouldn’t go to after prom anyways. 

She won’t say any of that to her mother because she won’t argue with her mother. She doesn’t argue with her mother, she listens to her and she obeys her. 

_ That _ is what they do. 

But fuck that, she’s seventeen and she’s in high school and she got asked to the prom, so she’s going to the prom whether her mom wants her to or not. 

“I gotta be honest, I am not loving this sudden influx of crime,” Cassie says, peering around a marble pillar. Red Tornado told them to go to a cathedral in downtown Gotham where an entire wedding party is being held hostage by gunmen and they are not having a good time. “My grades are going to suffer so much, my mom is already so mad at me, she’s actually going to eat my ass.”

“That’s definitely not the right term,” Tim says, dropping down next to her. “You take the guys on the left side, I’ll get the guys who are with the bride. Conner’s got the right side and Bart’s gonna try to get people out.”

They bump fists before jumping into action. 

Taking out the gunmen on the left side of the aisle isn’t particularly hard, but it’s not easy either. It’s tedious if anything. Cassie’s never been one to brag but she’s good at what she does. Bart is running around doing everything that he can for the guests and Tim is working on securing the bride. 

“Never thought I’d see you here,” Conner says, grinning down at her when they meet at the altar. 

Cassie rewards him with a laugh. “Yeah. You won’t.” 

“What does that mean? You don’t think we’ll get married?” Conner asks, blindly taking out a guy behind him. 

“I highly doubt it,” Cassie replies. 

“I guess I’ll just have to work my magic at prom, then,” Conner says. 

“I don’t think so,” Cassie says. 

“You guys are going to the prom?” Tim asks. He backs up to stand with them, the gunmen who were at the altar all slumped on the ground. “Like. Together?” 

“Oh my god, Conner in a suit and Cassie in a prom dress is literally what I jacked off to last night,” Bart says, suddenly appearing between the two. Conner smacks him and he snickers. “Kidding. I thought about Jaime.” 

“You really need to shut the fuck up,” Cassie snaps. She looks to Tim. “Where’s the bride?” 

“Oh, I don’t know, one of the guys took her somewhere,” Tim says. “They won’t tell me.” 

“I thought you were the world’s greatest detective, you can’t figure it out yourself?” Cassie asks. 

“I was  _ going  _ to tell you guys but I got distracted by, like, your prom plans and then Bart was being gross,” Tim says. 

The ceiling breaks in before anyone can respond and Blue Beetle drops down right in front of them, with the bride hanging off of his arm. 

“Take care of her,” he tells them, and then he takes off again. 

Conner collects the bride and helps her out of the church. 

“Yeah, thanks, man!” Bart yells up. “He didn’t hear me. Why didn’t he stay to chat?” 

“Maybe because you just give off nasty vibes,” Cassie offers. 

“I’m very friendly, everyone loves me,” Bart says. 

“I would beg to differ.”

“I’m gonna fucking fight you right now, Cassandra.”

Tim stops the bickering when police sirens start to get close. “We should get out of here before the police come.” 

“Why? I wanna see that one super hot officer, the tall one who’s always wearing sunglasses,” Cassie says. “He thanked me last time we saw him and now I want to have his children.” 

Bart glares at her. “And you have the audacity to tell me to shut up.” 

“Well, yeah, because you’re, like, nine so it’s weird when  _ you _ say shit like that,” Cassie says. 

“I’m fifteen!” Bart exclaims. 

“You haven’t even been conceived yet,” Cassie says. 

“Let’s just go,” Tim says. 

And that’s when a certain Blue Beetle decides to start showing up literally everywhere they go. It’s great for the team, because he’s a real help, but it sucks for Bart, and because it sucks for Bart, it sucks for everyone. 

“Why does he run away before we ever get to talk to him?” Bart whines. His voice is muffled because he’s lying face down on the couch. “Does he not think I’m hot? I look hot in my suit, right? Does he look at my ass?” 

“You don’t have an ass for him to be looking at,” Conner says. 

Bart gasps and looks up at him. “You bitch.” 

“He’s right, honey, your ass is, like, super flat,” Cassie says, smiling apologetically. “Oh, but you know who  _ does _ have a great ass?” 

“Tim,” Conner says at the same time as her and they high five. 

“Where is that beautiful fucker anyways?” Bart asks. “I thought we were all hanging out today?” 

“Bruce is making him do, like, patrol or something,” Conner says. “Couldn’t make it.” 

“Ugh, what a whore,” Cassie says. “I put off volunteering so I could come here and listen to Bart be disgusting, he does not get to bail on us for some Batman shit.” 

“Nah, man, he really wants to hang out but Bruce has been up his ass since the whole Scarab thing,” Conner says, just barely sighing. “It’s been a real damper on our bro time.” 

“Um, hello, what is bro time? Why am I not invited to bro time?” Bart says, sitting up. “Y’all being guys without me? Being dudes without me?” 

“You don’t get invited to bro time because you’re fucking annoying,” Cassie states, throwing a pillow at Bart. 

“Thanks a lot, sweetheart,” Bart drawls.

That’s when the tube announces Tim’s arrival and he stomps into the room, more disgruntled than usual. 

“We were just talking about your butt,” Conner says when he doesn’t say anything. 

“We’re all fans of it,” Cassie adds. “We have a separate group chat called the Drake Ass Fan Club.” 

“Good to know,” Tim says and he remains standing there. “Bart, tell your boyfriend that if he wants to keep doing superhero stuff, he needs to come talk to me because I can’t have him popping up around Gotham and ruining my routine.” 

Bart groans. “I fucking wish I could, he never stays long enough for me to say  _ anything _ to him.” 

“Get him to stay,” Tim orders, “or get him to shut the fuck up.” 

“I love it when you cuss,” Conner muses, smiling at Tim. 

“Only for you, baby,” Tim replies tiredly, flopping down onto the couch. 

“You guys are ugly,” Cassie deadpans. She then looks at Bart with bright eyes. “What if you ask him out? Like you sneakily, stealthily slide him a note under his door or something that says, like, ‘meet me behind Arby’s at 2pm for an ass kicking.’” 

“‘Hey, I think you’re super cute, do you want to eat my ass, check yes or no,’” Conner retorts. 

“And then we’ll meet up with him as superheroes and have a nice little chat and maybe some Starbucks,” Cassie finishes. 

“Yeah, good idea, give it to him the next time you see him,” Tim says, shooting finger guns at Bart. “I’m gonna take a nap, wake me up if something happens.” 

Tim knocks out as soon as his head hits the couch cushion. Cassie gets up from her seat to take his cowl and belts off and pulls a blanket over him. 

“Sleep, sweet prince,” she says, kissing his hair. 

“Oh my god, how come I don’t get good night kisses?” Bart complains. 

“I think it’s been  _ well  _ established that we like Tim more than we like you,” Conner says. 

“And you smell like McDonald’s,” Cassie says, leaning back on her heels. “Take a shower and I’ll give you good night kisses.”

“Maybe I don’t want good night kisses.” Bart crosses his arms. 

Cassie returns to her seat. “Then shut the fuck up.” 

“See, this is why I fell in love with Jaime after knowing him for, like, two days, it’s because everyone else in my life treats me like crap,” Bart rambles, getting up from the couch. “I’ve been so good to you guys, I am probably the nicest person here, I do so much for you, and do I ever get a thank you?  _ No.” _

Bart keeps yelling at them, but there’s no meaning behind the words, and he disappears into the hallway that leads to their rooms. 

“Wanna watch  _ High School Musical 3: Senior Year?”  _ Conner asks quietly so he won’t wake up Tim. 

Cassie settles back into the couch. “How could I not?” 

School is different. Bart doesn’t quite know how to explain it, but things have been different since the shooting, and since Blue Beetle showed up. It’s slow and sad and repetitive, like everyone is just going through the motions, none of them really living anymore. 

Bart feels bad about not feeling that bad about it. It really isn’t the worst that he’s been through. 

He starts to spend less time with Jaime and actually kind of avoids interacting with him outside of class. He's really not even sure why, his crush is still going strong, but it just feels weird to be around him. Maybe it’s because the Blue Beetle he’d known in the future was a ruthless and violent dictator who murdered everyone he loved and tortured him for years and the knowledge that that’s what Jaime could become is horrifying, but he’s no expert on the human mind, so he wouldn’t know. 

Cassie keeps telling him that he should talk to someone, but he doesn’t know who he would talk to, or why. He’s  _ fine.  _

Jaime finally gets Bart to hang out with him by bribing him with food one day. They’re sitting shoulder to shoulder in a booth at the pizza place close to Jaime’s house, with a large pizza on the table between them, and Paco and Brenda. 

“Superman is an alien, right?” Brenda says, staring over Bart’s shoulder at the TV set to a news station. 

“Yeah,” Paco mumbles around a mouthful of pizza. 

“So, is Superboy from the same planet or is he just, like, a mega fan who has the same powers?” Brenda asks. 

“Superboy is a clone made from Superman’s DNA,” Bart says without thinking and then sinks a bit in his seat when they all look at him. “That’s the theory, anyway.” 

“That can’t be right,” Paco says and Bart is  _ excited _ to hear what he has to say about it. “Superboy is black.” 

_ “No me digas,  _ really?” Brenda deadpans. 

“Superman is white,” Paco continues. “So Superboy would have to be white if he was made from the same DNA.”

Bart decides that it’s best not to explain the intricacies of how Conner’s genome was grown and just shrugs. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Great, so that didn’t answer my question,” Brenda says, raising her eyebrows. 

“He’s a sidekick or whatever,” Paco says. “It’s, like, Batman and Robin, but it’s Superman and Superboy.” 

“Superman doesn’t work with Superboy though,” Brenda argues. “He works with those other kids. Robin and the blond girl and the gay one.” 

Bart chokes on his drink and feels Jaime put a hand on his back while he coughs. Brenda and Paco watch him cautiously but go back to their conversation when he waves them off. 

“You okay?” Jaime asks quietly. 

“Yeah, I’m good, it just went down the wrong tube,” Bart wheezes, hitting his chest a couple times. “How - how are you?” 

Jaime smiles a little and looks away. “I’m fine.” 

“You sure?” Bart presses, leaning in closer. “Because you invited me here and you haven’t talked to me at all the entire time.” 

“I just have a lot on my mind,” Jaime says, and Bart believes him. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Bart asks. 

“Later,” Jaime tells him. 

Bart nods and goes back to his pizza. He won’t talk to anyone so it’s not his place to make other people talk. 

Brenda’s mom comes to pick her up and she takes Paco with her when she goes, leaving Bart and Jaime with half a pizza to finish. 

“Do you not like me?” Jaime asks suddenly when Bart is working on his fifth slice of pizza.

“What?” Bart looks up at Jaime, fully having no clue what is going on. 

“Do you not like me?” Jaime repeats, louder this time. “You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks, you can tell me if you don’t want to be friends.” 

“Of course I like you!” Bart insists. “I like you a lot! You’re one of my best friends.” 

“Then why…” Jaime frowns down at his plate. “Is it because of what Paco said the other day about you being obsessed with me? Because I don’t care about that, I like spending time with you.” 

Bart feels his heart start to beat faster and his cheeks heat up. “You do?” 

“Duh, I didn’t let you follow me around for two months because I hate you,” Jaime says, starting to smile a little. 

“Jeez, man, you think too hard,” Bart says. “I’ve just had a lot of stuff going on at home, my parents and their jobs and whatever, it’s nothing for you to worry about. That’s what had you all bothered and mopey this whole time?” 

Jaime shrugs. “Yeah, well, that and something else, but it’s not important.” 

Bart’s pretty sure he knows what that ‘something else’ is and he’s pretty sure that it’s very important but he won’t push. 

“School stressing you out?” he asks instead. “SATs are coming up, right? Ooh, and prom! My friend is going this year and it’s a big deal because her mom doesn’t want her to go but she already said yes to the guy who asked her, so I’m helping her plan something to sneak out for the night. Are you going to prom?” 

Jaime blinks, like he wasn’t expecting Bart to give him a chance to talk. “Oh, um, no, not this year. I have a lot going on and I need to start choosing colleges soon.” 

“Sounds stressful,” Bart says. He rests his chin in his hand. “Where are you thinking?” 

“I’d like to stay close to home so I’m not sure how far I’m willing to go,” Jaime says. “I think I’ll stay in Texas, but maybe New Mexico. Dallas or Albuquerque or something.” 

Bart nods and listens to Jaime talk and hopes that everything can start going back to normal, but he knows that it can’t. They can never go back to before, not when Jaime is the Blue Beetle. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bloop bloop bloop bleep gender is a social construct that means nothing bloop


	4. birds do it, bees do it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tim time! tim time! tim time! tim time! tim time!   
> guys i really love tim
> 
> but like, also, the other kids ig

“You guys can’t be here,” Tim says. “Bruce is in a pissy mood right now.” 

Cassie drops her backpack on one of his office chairs. “Oh, boohoo, he’s always in a pissy mood. It’s been almost three months since our last sleepover and we are all in desperate need of some unwinding.” 

“Plus Luthor lets me use his credit card for UberEats, so we can get some serious grub,” Conner says, getting comfortable on Tim’s bed. “Hella McDonald’s.” 

“And I brought face masks!” Cassie pulls them out of her backpack and holds them in front of her face. “Like, a bunch of cool shit from that Korean beauty store.”

“Oh my god, and you guys need to help me figure out what to do about Jaime,” Bart says. 

Tim sighs and just lets them keep doing their shit. “I thought we had a plan on what we’re doing with Jaime.” 

“Yeah, we do, and it will totally be put in motion once  _ someone _ gives me a date that works for them,” Bart snarks back and ignores Tim’s attempts to explain that he’s very busy. “But no, I mean about me trying to suck his dick.” 

“It honestly makes me so uncomfortable when you talk like that,” Cassie says, “yet it amazes me to no end how vulgar you can be at the most inappropriate of times.” 

“Just ask him out,” Conner says, turning on Tim’s TV. “You’re the boldest, most outspoken person in the world, it can’t be that hard.” 

Bart groans. “This is different than wanting to order a pinkity drinkity.” 

“You hardcore flirted with Conner, like, the second we met him,” Tim feels the need to point out. 

“Well duh, all of us did,” Bart snaps. 

“No, Cassie told him to jump off a building,” Tim says. 

Cassie winces. “Not my best line, I’ll admit.” 

“Okay, whatever, but I actually really like Jaime,” Bart says before the conversation can progress any further from the subject. “I don’t just want to suck his dick, I want to, like, hold his hand and meet his family and spend the rest of my life with him.” 

His friends stare at him while a sports commentator narrates a college lacrosse game behind him. 

“Okay,” Tim says. “You’ve known this guy for three months.” 

“Ample time to fall in love, wouldn’t you say?” Bart says, spreading his hands. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and I can’t screw it up, but literally every single relationship I’ve ever had has been yikes so you guys need to help me out here because I don’t know what to do.” 

Conner coughs awkwardly and changes the channel. “Dude, we’re not love experts either. Cassie ran away from the kid that asked her to homecoming this year.” 

“I thought it was a joke, and even if it wasn’t, he fucking deserved to be humiliated like that anyways, he bullied me in middle school,” Cassie says defensively. “But Conner’s right, Bart, we’re all emotionally vacant. Maybe you should ask Barry about this?” 

“I’m not talking to my  _ grandfather _ about boy stuff,” Bart says. “That is not happening, ever. You guys are my friends, you’re supposed to help me with this.” 

“All I can think of to do is send you WikiHow articles,” Tim offers. Bart rolls his eyes. “I don’t know what you were expecting from us, none of us have experience with this.” 

“Didn’t you date Stephanie for, like, a week?” Cassie asks. 

Tim sighs. “I’m gonna be fat honest with you, Cass, I do not know what happened with Stephanie.” 

“You had a girlfriend?” Bart asks incredulously. 

“She wasn’t my girlfriend, but that’s besides the point,” Tim snaps. 

Conner nudges Cassie and hands her his phone. “Put in what you want from McDonald’s.” 

“You could always just tell him that you like him,” Cassie says, doing as she’s told. 

Bart looks at her. “Absolutely not.” 

“Well, we can’t get you drunk enough to confess and I don’t know how much time any of us have to wait for the pining to end,” Cassie says. She hands Conner’s phone over to Tim. “So you’re either going to ask him out or I’m going to ask him out for you  _ or _ I’m just gonna stab him to death so that this whole fucking thing is over.” 

“You will not stab him,” Bart says. 

Cassie looks at him. “Then you know what you have to do.”

“You guys are acting like this is so important, it’s literally just Bart Boy Problems,” Tim sighs. “It’s nothing we haven’t sorted through before.” 

“Jaime is different,” Conner says in a high pitched voice that is apparently supposed to be an imitation of Bart. 

Bart gets up. “You are not making this better for me so I’m going to put on a face mask and then we’re gonna talk about  _ Tim’s  _ problems.” 

“I don’t have problems,” Tim says, and they all laugh at him. “Okay, fuck you guys.” 

“You’ve been avoiding us,” Cassie says. “You’ve been avoiding Conner, and he’s been spending all of his free time with me, and you know I love Conner, but he is  _ your _ best friend and he can be very annoying sometimes and I happen to be very busy around this time of the year with clubs and stuff so you need to take him back.”

“We are  _ all _ best friends,” Bart calls from the bathroom. 

“It’s just family stuff and it’s none of your business,” Tim says, glaring at all of them. “You know Bruce has been up my butt since the whole Scarab thing.”

Bart comes back with a sheet mask covering his face and daintily accepts Conner’s phone to put in his order. “Well, you know, we’ve got that all under control so he can just chill the fuck out or whatever.”

“Bruce has not chilled out ever in his life,” Tim states. “But, again, it’s none of your business, so we don’t need to talk about it.”

Conner makes room for Cassie on the bed and she plops down beside him. “Hey, before we talk about anything else though, can I tell my mom that we have team business on prom night so she won’t bother me?”

“It won’t be the first time you’ve lied to your mom,” Tim says. “Do whatever you want.”

“Yeah, duh, but I need you to back me up if she ever asks you about it,” Cassie says. “Don’t let her know that I went to prom.”

Bart gives Conner his phone back and then makes himself comfortable on a beanbag in the corner. “Hey, can we watch that one movie about the gay vampires that Wally was talking about?”

_ “Twilight?” _ Conner asks cluelessly. 

“You fucking wish  _ Twilight  _ was gay,” Bart scoffs. “I’m talking about that one shitty movie that was made in, like, 2010 with the -”

“The guy with bleached hair and sunglasses and the twink from Ohio. I know which one you’re talking about,” Cassie says, taking the TV remote from him. She looks at Tim and pats the spot beside her. “Come on, man. Relax a bit, just for tonight. You can go back to being sleep deprived and stressed out tomorrow.”

It’s nearly noon by the time Tim’s friends have left and he goes downstairs to get a snack before getting started on his homework, and he immediately notices that there is something wrong with the environment. 

For the two years that Tim has lived at the Wayne Manor, there has never been a mess in the front hallway. He can’t imagine why there’s some sort of mushy, reddish looking food splattered on the carpet or why it wasn’t immediately cleaned. The house is very quiet, but then again, it usually is, since Dick moved out and Bruce is just. Lonely or whatever. 

“Alfred?” Tim says carefully. “Is Bruce home? Are  _ you _ home?”

There’s no response so he inches around the food, because he is  _ not going to touch that, _ gets some coffee from the kitchen, and makes his way down to the Batcave because that’s the only place he can think of where anyone would be at this time. 

And there they are. All of them. 

Bruce and Dick and Alfred and someone else that Tim has never seen before.

This small person, who looks a lot like Bruce, but a lot tanner, but most people are more tan than Bruce because he never leaves his house (or cave), for some reason, is in a fiberglass cage and is snarling like a feral animal. 

The small person looks to Tim immediately and starts clawing at the glass, trying to get out. Tim takes that as his cue to wave and sort of smile but he’s going to need so much more coffee if he’s going to deal with this for the rest of the day. 

“Hiya, Tim,” Dick says cheerfully. “Good to see you again, it’s been a while. How are you?”

“Really stressed out and not having a good time,” Tim replies flatly. He makes a vague gesture toward the cage. “What’s that?”

“This is Damian,” Bruce says tiredly. “Damian, this is Tim.”

‘Damian’ just glares and Tim frowns. “Okay? What is Damian? Is he the one that, like, vomited mystery meat in the front hall?”

“He didn’t vomit, he threw it,” Dick says. “Very rudely, might I add, since Alfred made a very nice dish  _ especially for him.” _

“I didn’t want it,” Damian snaps. 

“Boys, not now,” Bruce says, rubbing his temples. “Tim, you’re going to hate me so much.”

Tim nods. “Yeah, I don’t think that anything you do can make me  _ more _ appalled and disappointed by you than I already am, so you might as well just - whoop - just spit it out. I can handle it.”

“Damian is my son,” Bruce says awkwardly, taking a very long time to get the words out. 

That throws Tim for a loop and he stands there staring at them for a while before he can even think of what to say so he drinks his coffee to stall. 

“Alright,” he finally says. “Okay, I’m not even going to try to unpack that, I really don’t want to know. Dick, it was really nice to see you, I like your haircut, Alfred, I’m going to go study at the library, so you don’t have to worry about my lunch -”

“Tim, please,” Bruce grumbles and Tim stops rambling. “I’d like us all to be here right now.”

“For what?” Tim says. “This is  _ your  _ business,  _ your _ problem. I’m taking the SAT in two weeks, I’ve got scholarships to look through, I do not have time for your bullshit.”

“Do not forget your place, Master Tim,” Alfred warns. 

“We might need your help,” Dick adds. “You guys are close in age, so you could talk to him or something.”

“He’s, like, six!” Tim scoffs. 

“Yeah, and you’re sixteen, I’m twenty-three, Bruce is, like dad-aged, and Alfred has no age because he was never born, nor will he ever die,” Dick says, counting their names on his fingers. “Ergo, you’re closest to him in age.”

“I’m  _ ten!” _ Damian yells, his voice muffled by the fiberglass. 

“Congratulations,” Tim drawls, sparing the kid a glance. “This is not my problem. Can I please leave?”

“No, you can’t leave,” Bruce says. 

Tim groans but puts his coffee down and joins them a few feet away from the cage. “Hey, uh, why’d you put him in a cage?”

“He bit off a chunk of flesh from my arm, look, you can see the bone,” Dick says, showing the wound to Tim, who recoils in disgust. “I’m very impressed, he has very sharp teeth, but it hurt, like, a lot, so we’re not having that happen again.”

“Fucking gnarly,” Tim remarks, even though he can barely look at it. 

“Language, Tim,” Bruce says and Tim rolls his eyes very hard. 

“What exactly do you need me to be here for?” Tim asks. 

“We don’t know what he’s doing here and I don’t want you out there when there may be a threat,” Bruce says. Tim stares at him in disbelief because that’s a load of bullshit. “Dick, can you please explain to Tim that I don’t want him to die?” 

“Talia al Ghul showed up in Blüdhaven and gave him to me,” Dick says to Tim. “He’s been trained by the League of Shadows his whole life and we don’t know if he’s working with them and we also don’t know what he’s capable of, also we don’t know exactly what he is doing here.” 

“You could just ask him,” Tim says, gesturing at the kid. He bends down to eye level. “Hey, are you, like, with the bad guys?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Damian snaps. 

Tim stands up. “Yeah, I hate him. When can we get rid of him?” 

“I don’t know if we  _ can _ get rid of him,” Bruce admits. “He’s my son, so legally I think I have to keep him.”

“Send him to a boarding school in Europe,” Tim suggests. 

“I don’t want the League to be able to have any contact with him anymore,” Dick says. “He’s staying with us and we’re going to keep careful watch on him until we can trust that he’s going to be okay.”

“I am not a child!” Damian yells. “Let me out of here!”

“Okay.” Tim grabs his coffee. “I actually do have a lot of homework to do, so I’m going to let you deal with the devil child, but I  _ promise _ I’m not going to leave the house, I’ll just be in my room, I’ll see you guys later.”

Bruce sighs. “Tim -”

“I have a quiz on Monday and I’m not going to fail it because you want me to babysit the actual spawn of Satan,” Tim says, and Bruce doesn’t respond. “Thank you, goodbye.”

When Tim gets back to his room, he sets his coffee down on his desk, sits down on his bed, and immediately falls asleep. 

“Hey, Jaime?” Bart says sleepily, three hours into studying at a small clean park a couple blocks from Jaime’s house. He’s not actually studying, he’s just almost taking a nap in the grass as Jaime takes notes. He’s bored and he’s frustrated because Tim still hasn’t given him a date that’ll work to ask Jaime about the whole Blue Beetle thing and he’s actually really tired and he’s kind of hungry, but he doesn’t say any of that. 

Jaime doesn’t look up from his text book. “Hmm?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re the most beautiful person in the world?”

“I’m sorry?” Jaime stammers, looking at Bart with wide eyes. 

“I’ll take that as a no,” Bart says. He plays with the thread poking out from his jacket sleeve. “Someone has now, I guess. I just wish you wouldn’t be so flat about it. Because if you weren’t, you would be so much more beautiful than this.” He gestures at the sky.

“You want - you want me to be a sky?” Jaime asks awkwardly. 

Bart snorts. “No, stupid. I don’t want you to  _ be _ a sky. I just want you to  _ act _ like one. You know what I mean? Wild, emotional, unpredictable, passionate…”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,  _ ese,”  _ Jaime says, raising his eyebrows. 

Bart audibly sighs. “That’s a shame. Apathy doesn’t really suit such a beautiful creature. But hey, I’m not going to try to force you to change who you are and how you live.”

Jaime stares at Bart for a while before laughing a little and closing his textbook. “Dude, what the fuck are you even talking about? Was that just your bullshit way of confessing?”

“Uh. Maybe? We’re reading poetry in English right now, I was feeling inspired.” Bart rolls over to look at Jaime. 

“Bart, sit up,” Jaime says. Bart does as he’s told and sits with his knees touching Jaime’s. “Do you think that you’re subtle?”

“No, I’ve been told that I’m not,” Bart says. 

“So you’re just dense?” Jaime asks, his smile growing. 

Bart looks away uncomfortably. “Okay, is this you liking me back or are you just insulting me?”

“This is me liking you back, dumbass,” Jaime says. “Obviously.”

“Whoa, okay.” Bart squints at Jaime, who looks like he’s trying not to laugh.  _ “You _ like  _ me _ and  _ I _ like  _ you.” _

“Uh, yeah,” Jaime says. “Pretty sure that’s what’s happening here.”

Bart can’t believe this is happening. He actually has no idea what is going on. The team is going to fucking laugh in his face when he tells them about this. 

“So,” Bart says. “What does this mean?”

“Well, hopefully, it means we’re dating,” Jaime says. 

“Oh my god,  _ what?” _ Bart’s so excited that he thinks he might explode. “Are you serious? Dude, that’s so dope!”

Jaime lets out a laugh and reaches out to hold Bart’s shaking hands. “Alright, bud, let’s not pee our pants about it.”

“I’m not gonna pee my pants!” Bart says. “I gotta go tell my friends!”

“Hang on there,” Jaime says, keeping Bart from running away. “We’re not done here.”

Bart looks at him and then at the textbook lying abandoned on the ground. “Um, I’m not studying and I was gonna leave at four anyways.”

“No, I  _ meant _ we’re not done  _ here,”  _ Jaime says. He tugs Bart forward so that he’s basically sitting in his lap. “You can’t just leave like that after we just agreed to date.”

“Sorry, I don’t follow,” Bart says, resting his hands on Jaime’s shoulders. “What do you need me to do?”

Jaime grabs Bart by the collar of his shirt, kisses him firm on the lips, and Bart responds enthusiastically. It’s not his first kiss, not by a long shot, but it feels like the first one that matters. He melts into the kiss. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest and blood rushing to his face and Jaime’s fingers tugging on his hair. 

“Okay, well, now I don’t want to leave,” Bart mutters, resting his forehead against Jaime’s. 

“You don’t have to,” Jaime tells him. 

“No, I do,” Bart says sadly, climbing out of Jaime’s lap. “My mom’s expecting me.”

Jaime holds onto Bart’s fingers and Bart swears that his heart melts a little bit. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you,” Bart says. And then he darts in to give Jaime a quick kiss on the cheek. “Bye!”

He runs down the lawn and makes sure he’s out of sight before he zooms to a tube. Cassie and Conner are in the team room watching  _ New Moon _ when he gets to the cave and he stands in front of the TV until Cassie pauses it. 

“Is there something you need, Bart?” she asks. 

“Aside from a constant supply of Adderall?” Conner says bemusedly.

“I have news,” Bart says, ignoring Conner. “Is Tim here?”

“He’s got a school thing right now,” Cassie says. “I’ll get him to come if this is important.”

“It  _ is _ important, but it’s not, like, something that he has to be here for,” Bart says. Cassie and Conner stare at him expectantly and his face bursts into a grin. “I’m dating Jaime.”

“Congratulations, man!” Conner says. He holds his hand up for a high five and Bart obliges. 

“Aw, I’m so happy for you,” Cassie gushes, getting up to hug Bart. “Tell us everything!”

“We were studying at the park and I have, like, zero impulse control so I started waxing poetic about how pretty he is and then he said that he likes me too and now I have a boyfriend,” Bart rambles. “Uh, and then I ran away because I had to tell you guys.”

“Smooth move, buster,” Conner says. 

“You’re going to tell him about everything now, right?” Cassie asks. Bart looks at her. “You have to tell him about us and Blue Beetle. We’re going to meet with him and you don’t want to have any secrets.”

“I will tell him,” Bart says. “I just want to have him to myself for a bit.”

“Sexy,” Conner remarks and Bart sticks his tongue out at him. 

“I’m happy for you, Bart, I really am,” Cassie says. “But you know what’s important. You know what you came here for. Don’t forget yourself.”

“I won’t,” Bart promises. 

To say that Cassie is exhausted would be putting it lightly. There’s a lot going on that she just didn’t have time for. Asian Student Union keeps bugging her about selling tickets for the multicultural dinner even that’s coming up, Tim asked her to keep an eye out for League of Shadows activity in her area which she couldn’t really say no to, she has scholarships to apply for, and her mom has been on her ass since she got a B- on her last lab write up for physics, and if she could get the world to stop spinning for just one day, she’d fucking do it. 

But she can’t because freezing time isn’t one of her superpowers. 

“Hey, girl wonder,” Conner says, knocking her locker closed. “Come get lunch with me.”

“I brought lunch from home,” she says. 

“Then come with me while I get  _ my _ lunch,” Conner says. He nudges her with his elbow. “Come on, I’ll get you something.”

Cassie sighs and shoulders her backpack. “Fine. I just need to get some forms to Ms. Wilson.”

“Sweet.” Conner grins. “I’ve been wanting to show you my new car.”

“You got a new car?” Cassie asks incredulously. “Luthor’s still trying to buy your love?”

“He keeps hoping that I’ll join him on, like, the dark side or whatever,” Conner says, shrugging. 

“I’ll meet you in the parking lot,” Cassie says when they get to the stairs. 

“I’ll be waiting for you in a beautiful Toyota Highlander,” Conner says, backing up towards the main doors. 

Cassie laughs. “That’s what Luthor got you?” 

“Hey, don’t judge her so quickly, she’s smooth as fuck,” Conner says, winking. He waves at her before heading out of the building. 

Cassie gets tackled into a trashcan when she steps off the stairs and stumbles to stay on her feet. “What is going on with you and Conner Kent?”

“I’m going to throw you down the stairs,” Cassie threatens. Her friend laughs at her as she pushes her off. “I could do it. I’m a lot tougher than I look.” 

“Bold of you to assume that I don’t  _ want _ to get thrown down the stairs,” Wendy says blandly. “But, for real, I had to hear about it from Tiffany. Fucking Tiffany told me that you guys are dating, do you know how humiliating it is that she knew something before me?”

Cassie rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, we are not dating. And Tiffany is stupid, you can never trust anything that she tells you.”

“Come on, you’re going on lunch dates with him, you’re going to  _ prom _ with him,” Wendy points out. “I’m pretty sure that’s dating.”

“We are not dating,” Cassie repeats. 

“Why not?” Wendy asks. “He’s hot, he’s fun, he’s obviously into you, and he has a  _ car.” _

“He’s not into me,” Cassie insists. “We’re just friends.”

Wendy doesn’t look convinced in the slightest. “Okay. Are you telling me that so you’re  _ more _ surprised when he kisses you?” 

“Okay, I’m gonna turn these forms in,” Cassie says, effectively stopping the conversation. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Whatever,” Wendy says. “Have fun on your little date.”

“It’s not a date!”

Wendy gives a sarcastic laugh before disappearing down the hallway and Cassie makes quick work of turning in the papers to Ms. Wilson. She is  _ not _ dating Conner. It’s never been like that with them. Bart jokes about it but Bart jokes about everything, and besides, Conner’s too obsessed with Tim’s butt to notice anyone else. 

Right?

He’s waiting for her in his adorable beige Toyota when she comes out to the parking lot, his sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose. 

“I’m not gonna lie, this is a really nice car,” Cassie admits, buckling her seatbelt. “What year is it?”

“2001,” Conner says. He pulls out of the parking lot. 

Cassie snorts. “Your dad is one of the richest people in the world and you told him that you wanted a 2001 Toyota Highlander?”

“He’s not my dad,” Conner tells her. “And, yeah, it’s a nice fucking car, man.”

“He’s more of a dad than the actual guy that you’re cloned after,” Cassie says. “It’s not like Clark was the one who taught you how to drive or took you to get your first haircut.”

“He’s evil,” Conner says. 

“But he’s not a bad dad,” Cassie says. 

Conner shrugs. “He’s only doing what he thinks is best for himself.”

“Aren’t we all, though?” Cassie asks. 

“Okay, thanks for that,” Conner snarks, giving her a look. 

Cassie rolls her eyes and settles back in her seat. “Yeah, anytime. Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Conner says. 

“Oh, great, I love your surprises,” Cassie replies, sort of sarcastically but sort of seriously. “Your birthday lap dance for Tim was simultaneously the worst and best moment of my life.”

“Don’t bring that up.”

“You were really good!”

“Do not bring that up.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Tim says, balancing his phone on his shoulder. “Bart, you weren’t supposed to actually make him fall in love with you, this was supposed to be fast and easy, in and out.”

“Uh, yeah, it would have been if you hadn’t hit him with your van,” Bart scoffs. “And you’re also the one who keeps postponing our meetings and then I have to rewrite the note,  _ and _ it was your idea for me to even go to school at all.”

Tim picks up a vase from the floor and sets it on the hallway table.  _ “Only _ for a month, and  _ only _ so you could get the damn Scarab.”

“That was before it fused to his spine and made things completely different,” Bart says. “Besides, no one is stopping Cassie and Conner from going to prom together.”

“What’s going on between them isn’t like that,” Tim says, peering around the corner. When he doesn’t see Damian, he continues on his way. “This isn’t about them, anyways. This is about you dicking it up with your mark.”

Bart snorts. “Jaime is not my mark.”

“I don’t want to be the one to give you a speech on not fraternizing with assignments,” Tim says. “Don’t confuse your mission with your feelings.”

“Why does everyone keep telling me that? Cassie got all ‘remember who you are’ with me when I told her,” Bart whines. “Jaime is not an assignment and I am not fraternizing with him.” 

Tim puts his phone on speaker when he gets to the kitchen and sets it down on the counter. “Okay, whatever you’re doing with him, I don’t like it.” 

“You don’t like  _ anything,”  _ Bart points out. “Except coffee and being depressed. And, you know what, it’s none of your business what I’m doing with Jaime. I don’t fuck with your personal life, you don’t fuck with mine.”

“It’s my business if it affects me,” Tim says, getting out ingredients for a sandwich. “Bruce is going to be pissed.”

“Bruce doesn’t have to find out. He doesn’t know about Cassie and Conner,” Bart says. 

Tim sighs. “Again, they’re not like that.”

“That’s what you think,” Bart says. “You haven’t been around lately, they share food and giggle with each other and have inside jokes, it’s like they’re fucking married. I know I joke that they’re my parents a lot but it’s like they’re  _ actually _ my parents.”

“They’re just good friends. They’re close because they go to the same school,” Tim tries, but he feels like he’s losing this battle. He starts to chop up lettuce for his sandwich. “And, anyways,  _ that _ is none of our business because it actually doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

“Bullshit, I don’t want to see them making out while we’re, like, saving people from a crazy super villain,” Bart snaps. “What are you doing, what is that noise?”

“I’m making a sandwich,” Tim says flatly. 

“Oh.” Bart is silent for a while and Tim moves on to chopping his tomato. “You know, Jaime made me a sandwich once.”

Tim rolls his eyes even though he knows Bart can’t see it. “Did he?”

“Yeah, it was chicken and avocado and it was so good, it made me cream my pants,” Bart muses. “He said he could teach me how to cook.”

“Remember when you tried making fried rice and it was super bland because you put too much sesame oil but then you ruined it even more by adding too much garlic salt and Conner couldn’t stop coughing for a good ten minutes?” Tim reminds him. 

“That’s why he’s  _ teaching _ me,” Bart says. 

“Try not to kill him with his own kitchen before we get him to join the Justice League,” Tim says dryly. His bread pops out of the toaster and he puts the two slices next to each other on a plate. “You know you’re going to have to be the one to tell him about all this, right?”

“Ugh, yeah,” Bart groans. “I’ll do it eventually.”

The kitchen door opens and Tim looks up from his nearly finished sandwich to see Damian standing in the doorway, his face red. “There is a spider in the bathroom.”

“So go to a different bathroom,” Tim says slowly, raising his eyebrows. “There are, like, six bathrooms in this house.”

“I don’t want to go to a different bathroom,” Damian says. 

“Then I guess you’re just going to have to wait for the spider to leave,” Tim replies, layering his vegetables and sliced meat on is bread. “Sorry, buddy.”

Damian narrows his eyes and leaves, slamming the door behind him. 

“Um, who was that?” Bart asks. 

Tim pushes down on his sandwich to squish it all together. “No one important.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what i'm doing help


	5. ah, to be young and feel love's keen sting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooohhhh the romance of it all.

Bart’s phone starts buzzing at 7:12PM, in the middle of dinner, and Iris does not look pleased with him at all. 

“Should I - am I allowed to answer it?” he asks meekly. 

“Go,” Barry says, waving a hand dismissively. “It’s not like you haven’t finished eating.”

Bart gives his grandmother an apologetic look and leaves the dining room. He’s in his room with the door closed when he finally picks up his phone, swiping across the screen to answer the call. “Oh my god, I was at the dinner table!”

“You guys have dinner super late then,” Jaime’s amiable voice buzzes through the phone. “Can you meet me at the park a couple blocks from my house in, like, twenty minutes?”

“Uh, what?” Bart glances at his clock. “I’ve kind of retired for the night, man, I already took off my jeans.”

Jaime’s laugh is hollow and Bart’s heart drops. “You could come in nothing but your underwear and literally no one would care. Can you come or not?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Bart says. He lingers on the line for a couple seconds. “Is everything alright?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Jaime says. “There’s something that I need to show you.”

“Okay. See you soon,” Bart says, and he hangs up. He feels like he knows exactly what this is about and he really doesn’t want to deal with this right now, especially on his own. He’d much rather have Cassie or Tim or even Conner there to help him with this, but Jaime asked and there’s no way he could ever say no to Jaime. 

He gives his grandparents a half-assed excuse for why he’s going out and finds his way to a tube that will take him to El Paso. The warm air hits him immediately when he steps out of the broken telephone booth in the gritty part of downtown and he zooms to the clean little park in the suburbs where he knows Jaime will be waiting for him. 

Jaime is pacing on the grass underneath a large tree, muttering to himself under his breath when Bart gets there. 

“Hi,” Bart says carefully, holding up a hand in greeting. “What’s up, bro?”

“Glad to see you’re not in just your underwear,” Jaime says. 

Bart snickers. “You’d love to see my underwear.”

“Bart, I’m -” Jaime cuts himself off and wrings his hands. “I don’t know how to say this.”

“It’s okay.” Bart definitely knows what this is about but he’s hoping deep down that it’s completely unrelated to the Scarab and the Reach. “Take your time.”

Jaime lets out a deep breath. “Would you ever hate me?”

Bart’s blood runs cold. “What?”

“If I did something terrible but I didn’t mean to and I couldn’t control myself, would you hate me for it?” Jaime asks, sounding desperate.

“What have you done?” Bart says. His voice is shaking and he can’t get it to smooth out no matter how hard he tries. He knows what Blue Beetle has done, what he will do. If the Reach takeover has already begun, then he won’t have a choice. 

“Nothing! I haven’t done anything,” Jaime promises.

Bart narrows his eyes. “Yet.”

“There’s a voice in my head and it keeps telling me to do things,” Jaime continues, grabbing Bart’s hands. “I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do about it.” 

Bart drops his hands. “I’m sorry, you’re losing me. If you’re hearing voices, I don’t think I’m the right person -”

“I am the Blue Beetle,” Jaime blurts. When Bart doesn’t say anything, he continues. “It’s this thing called a Scarab, its name is Khaji Da, it fused to my spine and I can’t get it off without dying, it activates this armor that gives me special powers.”

Bart is well aware of what the Scarab is, he does not need Jaime to explain it to him. He knew this was coming, he saw it from a mile away, but he doesn’t want it to be true. 

“What are you talking about?” he says flatly. 

Jaime takes a step back. “Don’t - don’t freak out.”

Like water rushing from his head to his feet, a heavy metallic substance covers his body, black and blue, and wings poking out from his shoulder blades. The sight hits Bart like a punch to the gut and he scrambles backwards, running into a picnic table. 

Jaime - poor Jaime who thinks that Bart has no idea what’s going on, that he’s just a regular kid from San Diego - holds his hands up innocently. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just - I’m just showing you.”

“Jaime,” Bart says, but he doesn’t come closer. “Who else knows about this?”

“Paco and my sister and my parents,” Jaime says. “I’ve been fighting. Crime.”

“I know. I’ve seen the news,” Bart says, the words coming out harsher than he intended. He sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “I think I should go.”

“Wait, Bart, please,” Jaime says, stepping forward. “Khaji Da says - the Scarab - it talks to me, right? And it keeps telling me that you’re special.”

Bart isn’t sure what that means, so he stays. “How much do you know about the Scarab?”

“I don’t know? It told me that it’s from Space Sector 2 and it said that it was deployed by the Reach to expand their empire, but I don’t really know what that means,” Jaime says. Bart tenses at the mention of the Reach. “It keeps talking about this plan, but it won’t tell me what the plan is.” 

“What does it want you to do?” Bart asks carefully. 

“I don’t know, it’s on, like, a need to know basis,” Jaime says, shrugging. “I just really don’t like the sound of ‘expanding an empire.’” 

Bart stands there, watching Jaime in silence for a while, trying to figure out what to do. He  _ should _ bring Jaime to the cave and introduce him to the team and see where to go from there, but he has no idea how Jaime will react and he can’t afford any surprises right now. 

“I think there’s someone you should meet,” Bart says finally. 

Jaime blinks his yellow eyes curiously. “Huh?”

“I’ll be right back,” Bart says. “Stay right here.”

He dashes to the edge of the patch of grass and pulls his phone out of his pocket, dialing the first number he can think of. 

“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” Cassie’s voice calmly floats through the line, washing over him like the warmth of a mother. 

“I need you to get Conner and come to the location I’m sending you,” Bart says quietly. “Do you know if Tim’s busy right now?”

“He’ll drop anything he’s doing if you need him,” Cassie says. “What’s going on?”

“Just put your suits on and come here quickly please,” Bart says. “There’s a tube in the cave that’ll take you to El Paso, I’m near Jaime’s house.”

“Okay. We’re coming.”

It takes much longer than Bart would have liked but Cassie and Conner show up, Conner with his jeans and leather jacket, and Cassie with her leather pants and her gold arm bands. 

Jaime watches soundlessly as Cassie walks up to Bart.

“Tim’s on his way. Everything is going to be okay,” she whispers to him. 

“Blue Beetle?” Conner says, his voice deep and rumbly in the hottest way possible. 

Jaime takes a moment before coughing awkwardly. “Yes? That’s me?”

“Hi! We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for quite some time! You sure are a slippery one,” Cassie says cheerfully, walking forward to shake Jaime’s hand. “I’m Wonder Girl, this is Superboy.”

“You know these guys?” Jaime asks, peering around Cassie to look at Bart. 

“We’ve met before,” Bart replies weakly. 

_ “Anyways _ , we noticed that you’ve been around a lot of the same places that we are,” Cassie continues, “and we were wondering if you would like to discuss being able to work together or partnering with the Justice League.”

“The Justice League?” Jaime says incredulously. “I’m not - I’m not a superhero.”

“You’re a big blue bug who goes around saving people,” Conner points out. “I’m pretty sure that’s what a superhero is.”

Tim runs up to them suddenly, clapping Bart on the shoulder. “Hey, guys, sorry I’m late,” he says. He turns to wave at Jaime. “Hello, I’m Robin.”

“I’m the Blue Beetle,” Jaime says unnecessarily. 

“Yeah, that’s kind of obvious,” Tim says. “You’ve got the Scarab, right? Would you mind coming with us to run some tests on your suit and your weapons? There are a lot of things that we need to discuss if you’re going to continue being a superhero, there’s a lot of work that goes -”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Jaime interrupts. “Bart, what is going on? How do you know these people?”

“We work together,” Bart tries, more like a question than an answer. 

Conner rolls his eyes. “Bart, you have to tell him.”

“Tell me  _ what?” _ Jaime asks. Bart opens and closes his mouth, not really having any idea of what he’s supposed to say. “This is so not going how I thought it would.”

“You haven’t told him yet?” Tim says, aggravatedly. “What the hell have you been doing this entire time?”

“What are you talking about?” Jaime says. “What do you all know that I don’t?”

“Bart, you have to tell him,” Cassie says when Bart remains silent for a little while longer. “If you don’t, we will.”

Bart clenches his fists and takes a deep breath. “I am Impulse.”

Everyone is quiet for a while after that. Jaime’s suit melts off like he’s shedding skin and the look on his face is more confused than anything else. 

“You knew,” Jaime says, looking right at Bart. “We met when you hit me with your van and then you transferred to Coronado because you  _ knew.” _

“Sorry again about the van thing,” Tim pipes up quietly. “I really didn’t mean to do that.”

Conner claps a hand over Tim’s mouth and steers him away, giving Bart an apologetic look. 

“This whole time, everything you did, it was just to get to the Scarab,” Jaime keeps going and Bart just wants to die. Jaime looks broken, his cheeks are red and his eyes are watery. “You don’t give an actual shit about  _ me,  _ do you?”

“No, Jaime, of course I care about you,” Bart protests. 

“You care about the Scarab,” Jaime says. His voice is deceivingly even. “All that shit you fed to me about being best friends was bull, hell, you even  _ kissed _ me, and for what? To keep me on a fucking leash?”

“Jaime, no, it wasn’t like that, I swear,” Bart says. “I was going to tell you about everything.”

“When?” Jaime asks. 

Bart takes a breath. “I - I don’t -”

“You have no idea how important you are to me, do you?” Jaime says. Bart doesn’t know how to respond to that. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t even put into words how happy I am when I’m with you, and I was just one of your fucking  _ assignments.” _

“It was a mission,” Bart corrects quietly. 

Jaime throws his hands up in exasperation. “You’re not making this better for yourself, Bart!” 

“I was going to tell you,” Bart repeats, feeling absolutely useless. “You’re my best friend. You know that.”

“How?” Jaime doesn’t wait for Bart to respond. “Because, as far as I’m concerned, the only reason you even noticed me was the Scarab.”

“That isn’t true!”

“It is, though,” Jaime says. “I need to - I can’t do this right now. Goodbye, Bart.”

“Jaime, wait,” Bart tries, but Jaime’s already left. He bites his lip to keep himself from trembling. Cassie comes up behind him and puts her hands on his shoulders comfortingly. “How did that get so fucked up?”

“What happened to our ‘check yes or no’ note plan?” Conner asks. 

“Jaime decided to shit on it, that’s what happened,” Bart snaps, glaring at Conner. 

Cassie winces and pats Bart on the back. “I’m sorry, dude, we didn’t know that he would react that way. Come on, let’s go back to the cave.”

“You look like you’re getting married,” Tiffany says. “And you’re hiding how great your boobs are. You look like you’re a twenty-five year old mail order bride.”

“Oh my god, Tiffany, you have to stop making mail order bride comparisons,” Wendy complains. 

Cassie sighs and turns around to look at herself again in the mirror. She’s wearing a red  áo dài that her mother bought for her a couple months ago so they could take pictures at Sears to send to her mother back in Vietnam. “This is the only prom appropriate dress I have and I couldn’t go out and spend more than twenty dollars without my mom getting suspicious.”

“Well, I think you look great,” Jeremy says from where he’s sitting on Tiffany’s couch. “It’s a really pretty dress.”

“You’re really sweet, babe, but you’re not Vietnamese,” Tiffany says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “She looks like my mom’s wedding pictures.”

“Your mom is beautiful,” Jeremy replies. He looks at Cassie again. “Literally no one is going to care if you look like a bride, you’re fucking hot.”

“He’s right,” Wendy says. She glances out the window and grins. “Looks like your groom is here.”

Cassie feels like her face is as red as her dress and goes into the bathroom to finish up her makeup. She really does look like a Vietnamese bride, she’s just missing the hat. She’d told her mother that she was going to be doing superhero stuff all night and she’s irrationally paranoid that she’ll be caught in her lie. Wendy’s parents dropped her off and Tiffany convinced her mom to not tell Cassie’s mom about her being there, so none of the parents were going to blab about it on FaceBook. It’s just nerve-wracking to lie to her mom and she’s very, very anxious about it. 

“Hey, you look great.”

“Oh my god.” Cassie nearly punches Conner in the face when he comes up behind her. “You cannot scare me like that, dude.” 

Conner raises his eyebrows. “You’re looking in a mirror, you should have seen me approaching.” 

“Sorry, I was more focused on my  _ godly  _ eyeshadow,” Cassie mumbles, turning back to her makeup. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” 

“Luthor took me to a tailor,” Conner says. He straightens his linen jacket. “It was very uncomfortable the entire time.” 

“You went to a tailor?” Cassie asks. “I’m never gonna get over how much fucking money you have.” 

“It’s not my money, it’s Luthor’s,” Conner says. 

Cassie rolls her eyes. “Yeah, and you’re using it.” 

“Hey, newlyweds,” Tiffany interrupts, knocking on the door. “We’re gonna start taking pictures soon and the limo is going to be here in an hour.” 

“We’ll be right out, Tiffany,” Cassie snaps, glaring at her friend. Conner gives her a perplexed look as Tiffany leaves. “Don’t ask.” 

Taking pictures is more fun for the parents than it is for the kids actually going to prom but Tiffany’s mom sets out an array of food (most importantly, a plate of egg rolls that Cassie finishes almost entirely on her own) so it’s not all bad. Hanging out with all of Conner’s friends isn’t too unfamiliar since their friend groups overlap a little and a couple of her own friends are there too. The limo ride is pleasant and Cassie spends most of it talking to Wendy while Conner dicks around with his friends. It isn’t until they’re inside the club with their dinner, having taken their extremely awkward picture in front of the leaf arc, that she finally starts to feel at ease. 

“Bart would nut if he saw this dinner,” Cassie remarks, taking out her phone to send him a Snapchat. 

Conner tilts his head. “This is what Tim has, like, everyday.”

“No, if Tim had this everyday, he wouldn’t be so fucking skinny,” Cassie says. “It’s crazy how he’s so skinny but he has such a nice butt.”

“It’s the running,” Conner says. “He runs so much, it’s crazy.”

“Bart runs a lot, he runs more than all of us, and he doesn’t have an ass,” Cassie points out, shaking her head. 

“No, that’s because he’s white,” Conner replies and Cassie snorts into her mashed potatoes. “I’m right and you know it.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t say it,” Cassie snickers, covering her mouth. 

Conner shrugs, grinning handsomely. Dinner goes by quickly and Wendy only tells Tiffany to shut up three times. They dance and sing karaoke at the machine in the corner and take pictures in the gazebo set up on the lawn and it’s really fun, Cassie can’t deny that, but she feels like she’s not in her body while it’s all happening, like she’s watching from the outside. 

This feeling isn’t uncommon, though. It usually happens whenever she has to perform or do something important. She finally comes back to herself when she’s on the balcony with Conner. 

“I’m really glad that you came,” Conner tells her. “It wouldn’t have been as fun without you.” 

“Oh, you’d be miserable without me,” Cassie says airily, leaning forward on the railing. Conner pushes her threateningly and she laughs. “Thank you for inviting me, Conner, I appreciate it. It’s nice to get away from team work and school for a while.”

“You’re burning the candle on both ends,” Conner says. He smiles when she frowns at him. “I heard it on TV, that’s the first time I’ve used it.”

Cassie sighs and shakes her head. “Yeah, good job on learning colloquialisms. I’m proud of you.”

“I’m serious, though, you’re working hella hard,” Conner says. “You talk shit about Tim not sleeping enough but I don’t think you’re that much better than him.”

“Don’t compare me to Tim, he’s on a whole other level,” Cassie says. “He’s doing great things with his life, I’m just trying to get into a good college so I can make my mom proud of me.”

“You don’t think you’re doing great things?” Conner asks. 

Cassie shrugs. “I mean, sure, we’re superheroes, we save lives and we help people, but I’ve always thought of Wonder Girl as separate from Cassie Sandsmark.”

“Oof, you’re depersonalized as fuck,” Conner remarks. 

“Yeah, and you’re bad at having serious conversations with people,” Cassie shoots back. “We’ve all got our flaws.”

Conner pushes her shoulder and she pushes him back. 

“You’re really good at singing,” Conner says, changing the subject. “And performing. It was like being at a concert while you were up in karaoke.”

“Yeah, um, my mom used to make me sing Vietnamese folk music at this senior living home when I was younger,” Cassie explains. “It was a tiny stage in, like, this cafeteria and I would go up there and just, like, yodel for all these old people. I used to do it almost every weekend.”

“Please tell me that your mom has footage of this,” Conner says. 

“There’s this one video of me singing a song from a Vietnamese opera that she loves to show literally everyone that she knows,” Cassie says. “It’s mad embarrassing but that’s, like, the proudest that she has ever been of anything that I’ve done.”

“Well, at least she’s proud of something, so kudos to you for that,” Conner says. “Neither of my parents are proud of me, ever.”

Cassie raises her eyebrows. “Finally acknowledging Luthor as your dad?”

“My apartment and car are both in his name, so I might as well call him my dad,” Conner replies, shrugging. “He sent me a new microwave the other day.”

“He’s not proud of you?” Cassie asks. “It always seems like he’s obsessed with you.”

Conner shakes his head. “He won’t be proud of me until I demolish a city in his name and rebuild it as a part of his empire.”

“That’s tough,” Cassie says.  _ “I’m _ proud of you, if it makes any difference. I think you’re wonderful.” 

“Really?” For some reason, this seems to actually surprise Conner, like he didn’t know that she adores him already. “Why?” 

Cassie almost snorts. “You’re asking me why I think you’re wonderful?” 

“I mean, yeah,” Conner shrugs. “Not a lot of people share that sentiment.” 

“Everyone loves you, Conner,” Cassie says. “The team, people at school, everyone that you’ve saved. You’re Superboy.” 

“Superboy is great,” Conner agrees. “Conner Kent is not.” 

“You literally just told me that I’m depersonalized as fuck for keeping Wonder Girl and Cassie Sandsmark separate,” Cassie says and Conner looks away from her. “Look, man, I like you because you’re a good person. I grew up with Wendy and Tiffany and all of them and I love them, I do, but we’re all heading in different directions, you know? When I’m with them I feel like I’m not really myself anymore, I feel like I have to put up a front. It’s not like that with you.” 

“Yeah, because I know you’re a demigod superhero and they don’t,” Conner says. 

Cassie lets out a deep breath. “Conner, out of all the things that I don’t know, the  _ one _ thing I’m sure about is that you are very special to me and I want you to be in my life for a very long time.”

“Okay, little miss Hallmark,” Conner says, starting to smile. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments.” 

“Bullshit,” Cassie says. “You literally asked me to talk about how much I like you.” 

“Yeah? And how much is that?” Conner asks. He’s grinning now and Cassie wants to smack him for being so handsome. 

_ “So _ much,” she says. “I didn’t want you to find out this way, but I’m actually the president of your fanclub. It’s a little embarrassing.”

Conner laughs. “Is that so?”

“Yeah. Tim’s the treasurer, we have shirts with your face on them.”

“You are too much,” Conner says, looking down at Cassie with shining eyes. 

Cassie raises her eyebrows and lifts herself up on her toes. Even in four inch heels, she’s still a couple inches shorter than him. “Well, by all means, keep going.”

“You want me to keep going?”

“Yeah, I just rambled on about my love for you, I think I deserve a little something in return,” Cassie says. 

“Well, you’re beautiful,” Conner says. “You’re very strong. You’re good at singing.”

Cassie gasps and puts a hand on her chest. “Be still my beating heart.”

“I’m not good with words,” Conner says defensively. 

“I know,” Cassie says, patting his arm. “Actions speak louder than words, yeah?”

Conner looks at her like he wants to say something but he thinks better of it. Cassie shifts her weight and looks out onto the empty golf course. There are actually a couple of geese walking around near the lake but other than them, it’s abandoned. She’s never been to a golf course before, she’s only seen it in, like,  _ High School Musical 2 _ . 

A warm hand cups her face and she turns just in time for Conner to catch her lips with his. 

It’s awkward. Cassie’s never kissed someone other than her mother before and she doesn’t know if Conner’s ever kissed before either. They’re both tense and Cassie isn’t really sure what she’s supposed to be doing with her hands. 

It doesn’t last very long. They both pull back at the same time and Conner cleared his throat. 

“Thanks for that,” Cassie says after a long moment of silence. 

Conner can’t help but laugh. “You’re thanking me for kissing you?”

“I don’t really know what else to say, man,” Cassie says. 

“Well. You know. You’re welcome,” Conner says, giving a tiny bow. 

“I adore you,” Cassie mutters before pulling Conner back in for another kiss. 

Jaime’s sister opens the door a couple seconds after Bart knocks and he feels like he’s about to get beat the fuck up. 

“Hey, Bart,” Milagro says. She doesn’t invite him in.

“Hi, Milagro,” Bart says. “Can I talk to Jaime?” 

Milagro leans against the doorway. “I don’t think so. Not today, Bart.” 

“Please, I have to see him,” Bart pleads. “There are things that I have to tell him.”

“I don’t know what happened, like, if you guys got into a fight or something, but he’s  _ really  _ torn up about it,” Milagro tells him. “He doesn’t talk at dinner, he doesn’t leave his room unless he has to, and I’m sorry, but I don’t think you would make anything better right now. I think what he needs is some space.” 

Bart’s heart breaks thinking about how he’s the one that did this to Jaime. “I can fix this, Milagro, I promise, I just need to talk to him.” 

“I don’t want him to be like this,” Milagro says, her voice breaking. “I don’t know how to help him, I just don’t want to make things worse, and I don’t know how he’ll react to you.” 

“Just let me try,” Bart says. “If I make it worse, you can kick me out, you can beat me up, whatever, but please, I have to try.” 

Milagro sighs and nods, stepping aside to let him in. “You know where his room is, just knock before you go in.” 

Bart follows her orders and pokes his head into Jaime’s room when he doesn’t get an answer. 

Jaime is sitting on his bed with his eyes closed. His back is oddly very straight so Bart assumes that he’s meditating or something and quietly lets himself in. 

“I’m still mad at you,” Jaime says. His voice is thick and his eyes remain closed. 

“I know,” Bart says. “I’m still sorry.” 

Jaime uncrosses his legs and opens his eyes to look at Bart. “Why are you here?” 

“I want to explain myself,” Bart says. “I know I should have told you everything a long time ago and this doesn’t really make up for it, but I think you deserve to know anyways.” 

“You should have sent Robin or Wonder Girl,” Jaime says. “I don’t want to hear anything from you right now.” 

“But it should come from me,” Bart insists. He sits down on the edge of the bed. “Just hear me out, please.” 

Jaime thinks about it for a while before nodding. “Fine.” 

“My name’s Bart Allen,” Bart says. “I come from a time when the Reach used the Blue Beetle to take over the world and forced all of humanity into servitude. I built a time machine so I could come back and prevent that from happening.” 

“Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better about anything,” Jaime says. 

Bart sighs. “Things were so different when I was growing up. I had to fight and cheat and steal just to stay alive. You don’t want to know the things I had to do. When I had an opportunity to make it better, I took it. I had to.”

“And that’s why you’ve been doing all of this?” Jaime says. “To stop me from becoming evil and taking over the world?” 

“I mean, yeah, duh,” Bart says lightly. “When I came back, I had no idea who the Blue Beetle was. Robin told me that the Scarab was lost somewhere in Egypt and hadn’t been activated in decades, so I thought that if I could get the Scarab and put it somewhere safe, no one would become the Blue Beetle and the Reach invasion would never happen. So then we worked on finding the Scarab and then we did and then Robin hit you with our van and everything just blew up.”

Jaime processes all of this. “Okay. I get why you’d want to keep an eye on me, and I definitely don’t want to become evil and take over the world and enslave all of humanity, but why couldn’t you just tell me? Like, straight up, you didn’t have to come to Coronado and pretend to be normal or whatever.” 

“We didn’t know that the Scarab had already fused to your spine,” Bart says. “The plan was for me to get the Scarab back for this to be done, but that didn’t happen.” 

“I just don’t get why you didn’t say anything before,” Jaime says, and Bart can see just how hurt he is. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” 

“I don’t know,” Bart says. “I think - I just liked you so much and I’d never experienced something like this before. Cassie and the guys, the team, they’re my family but I’ve always been different. Then you met me and you let me into your life and you treated me like no one had ever treated me before, like I was just a normal kid, you’re the nicest person I’ve ever met, and you made me feel warm and protected and happy and I didn’t want that to end. I know I should have told you everything a long time ago and I know I was being selfish and I understand if you hate me now, I just thought that you deserved to know where I was coming from, and you shouldn’t hold it against the rest of the team or the Justice League, you really should actually talk to Robin or Batman to work something out. I’m sorry.” 

Bart honestly doesn’t know if he’s ever actually talked about his feelings in his life but he definitely feels a lot better after getting all of that off of his chest. Maybe Cassie was right about him needing to talk to someone. 

“I really make you feel that way?” Jaime asks, his voice small. 

“Yes!” Bart exclaims. “Jaime, I think I’ve been in love with you since Robin hit you with our van.”

Jaime’s eyes widen. “You - love?” 

“Yeah, okay, I don’t know if I  _ love _ you because I don’t really even know what love is,” Bart admits. “But I like you, like, a lot. Like,  _ a lot  _ a lot. Like I wanna marry you and have your children, I want to grow old with you, like it’s embarrassing, that’s how much I like you.” 

Jaime has the audacity to laugh and Bart feels mortified but it makes him feel a little bit better. 

“Okay, we know that I’m very dense, so you’re gonna have to clarify what’s going on here,” Bart says carefully, smiling a little. “Is this you forgiving me? Are we good?” 

“I don’t know when we’ll be good, but. We’re okay, Bart,” Jaime says, patting Bart’s shoulder. “On one condition, though.” 

“Name it, I’m there,” Bart says. 

“No more secrets,” Jaime says. 

“Oh, done,” Bart says immediately. “Does that mean starting now or since I met you? Because there are a lot of things. Like, okay, I don’t live in El Paso, I live in Star City with my grandparents who actually haven’t married or given birth to my dad yet, sometimes I watch the video logs Robin records for Batman because I’m super nosy and I know way more about that kid than I should but he doesn’t know -”

“That’s enough, Bart.” 

“Okay.”

  
  



	6. like i'm the universe and u be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how to name chapters so, you know. N A S A. get ur own world imma need space

Tim and Cassie are in the kitchen when Bart gets to the cave with Jaime by his side. Tim snatches a carrot slice from Cassie’s cutting board before looking up and giving them a tiny smile. 

“Look who it is,” he says, and Cassie looks over. “I’m glad you guys could stop by.”

“Jaime, this is Tim and Cassie,” Bart says, and Jaime waves. “Tim, do you think we could give him a quick diagnostic today?”

“Sure,” Tim says. “I just need to finish up here.”

“I take it you two made up?” Cassie asks curiously. She finishes with her carrots and scrapes it into a bowl along with chopped potatoes. 

“Yeah, we talked yesterday,” Bart says. He takes a seat at the counter and gestures for Jaime to join him. “What are you guys making here?”

“I’m just making a stir fry. Red Tornado got us so many vegetables because he wants us to eat healthy and they’re all on the verge of going bad,” Cassie says. “I’m not entirely sure how it’s all going to taste together, but I’m hoping that some garlic salt and wine will make it cohesive? Then again, I also do not know what I am doing. Do you cook, Jaime?”

Jaime takes a moment to respond, obviously not expecting to be included in the conversation. “No, not really. A little, I guess.”

“You’ll have to cook for us sometime then,” Cassie says, smiling. 

Tim grabs another carrot slice. “Yeah, I’d love to try your cream worthy sandwiches.”

“Tim,” Bart snaps, his face turning completely red. “Shut up.”

Surprisingly enough, this is what makes Jaime relax and he laughs. 

Conner joins them a little while later, crossing the kitchen to wrap his arms around Cassie from behind and rest his chin on the top of her head. Cassie elbows her way out of his grip so she can toss the peels into the trash can and drags him to the landing just outside of the cave, leaving Tim to take care of Bart and Jaime. 

“I know I should have been more clear about this before, but let’s not PDA so much before we’ve defined the relationship,” she says and Conner stares at her cluelessly. “We don’t know what we are yet.” 

“We’re not dating?” Conner asks. “I thought because we kissed -”

“Okay, buddy,” Cassie says. “Yeah, we kissed but we’re not dating, we haven’t discussed anything yet, and I would just rather not have people know anything until  _ we  _ know what we’re doing here.” 

“So, what are we doing?” Conner says. 

“I don’t know,” Cassie says. “What do you want to be doing?” 

“I don’t know,” Conner parrots. “What do  _ you  _ want to be doing?” 

Cassie sighs and puts her hands on her hips. “Do you want to date me?” 

“Yes, Cass, I thought we covered this whole thing at prom,” Conner says, raising his eyebrows. “Do you, like, not want to date me?” 

“I mean, no, yeah, I want to date you,” Cassie says. 

Conner frowns at her. “Then what was the big deal?” 

“The big deal is that we can’t be kissing in front of everyone all of the time, especially since Bart is best friends with my mom and my mom cannot find out about this,” Cassie says sharply. “She will actually have my head.” 

“Why? I thought your mom liked me,” Conner says. 

“It’s not that she doesn’t like you, it’s more that I’m not allowed to date,” Cassie tells him. “We just need to be careful.”

“God, you so over complicated this, it did not have to be this deep,” Conner says, pushing her arm. “So we can tell people, just not your mom?” 

“Yes, please, thank you,” Cassie breathes out. 

“Can I kiss you  _ now?” _ Conner asks. 

Cassie can’t help but smile. “Yes, you doof.” 

Their lips have barely touched when Conner is yanked away and thrown right into the mountain behind them. Cassie watches in complete shock as he slumps to the ground and is about to go help him when there’s a hand on her shoulder. 

“What do you think you are doing?” 

“What - five months of radio silence and then you throw Conner into a rock, Diana, I want to know what  _ you _ think you’re doing,” Cassie shoots back, glaring up at her mentor. 

“Who is that?” Diana asks coolly, not letting Cassie past her. 

“I just said that’s Conner,” Cassie says. “Kon-El. I think you’ve met before.”

“No, who is he to you?” Diana rephrases. 

Cassie blinks. “He’s - we’re - I’m so confused, he’s my boyfriend?” 

“Oh, no.” Diana shakes her head. “I do not think so.” 

“That was a trap. You tricked me into that one,” Cassie says. She leans around Diana. “Hey, are you okay?” 

Conner gives a thumbs up from where he’s still lying on the dirt. 

“You cannot have a boyfriend,” Diana states. “That is not what you became Wonder Girl for.” 

“Oh my god, what are you, my mom?” Cassie says incredulously.

“I am your mentor,” Diana says firmly. “It is my duty to make sure that you keep track of your responsibilities. A boyfriend will only get in the way.” 

“You don’t get to do this,” Cassie snaps. “You don’t get to disappear for months and then randomly show up to tell me what I can’t do. I’m on this team whether you like it or not and I’m with Conner whether you like it or not. You don’t get to act like you care about me when you obviously never gave a crap before.”

“Cassandra.” Diana is very tall and has a deep, demanding voice, and she’s kind of glowing and Cassie realizes that maybe she shouldn’t be picking a fight with Wonder Woman. “Being a superhero is a privilege. You do not get the same luxuries as other girls your age. You can have a boyfriend or you can be Wonder Girl. You do not get to have both.” 

“That’s stupid,” Cassie says flippantly. “Bart gets to have a boyfriend.” 

“Bart is none of my concern,” Diana says. “You are, and you will do as you are told or you will face the consequences. I will not let you make an imprudent decision that will ruin your life.”

Cassie takes a deep breath and crosses her arms. “I’m not Donna,” she says flatly. Diana clenches her fists and Cassie is forty percent sure she’s about to get slapped but she keeps going. “You can put as many rules on me as you’d like, but you can’t protect me from everything.”

“You are not invincible. Your powers can be taken away,” Diana says. “You must be wise.”

“Okay, I’ll - yeah, you know what, you win,” Cassie relents finally, dropping her hands in defeat. “Can I at least go see if he’s okay?”

Diana steps aside and Cassie rushes over to Conner, who is still lying flat on the dirt. 

“You’re not actually that hurt, right?” she whispers, kneeling down next to him. 

“Yeah, I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do,” Conner replies. “I thought maybe she would hit me again if I tried to leave.”

“So, we’re not gonna be telling people about this,” Cassie says, helping him up. 

Conner nods. “Agreed.”

“This is actually fascinating,” Tim says. He’s sitting at his little detective station in his room with Jaime and Bart on the bed behind him and scans of Jaime’s body up on the monitors. “I’ve highlighted the Scarab’s parts in red so you can see them more clearly.”

Jaime hesitates to respond. “Is that -”

“It’s connected to your brain, yes, but we expected that since it’s able to communicate with you telepathically,” Tim answers. He points at where two red tendrils are connected to the bottom of Jaime’s brain. “We can’t remove it because it’s fused to your spine and connected to your brain stem, so we would risk losing some of your basic motor functions.”

“Is it in complete control of my body?” Jaime asks. 

“No, thank God, this Scarab seems to be damaged compared to the rest that the Reach has deployed, so it’s basically a glorified parasite,” Tim says, leaning back in his chair. 

“It says it’s not a parasite,” Jaime says sheepishly and Bart snorts. 

Tim  rolls his eyes. “I don’t mean that parasite is a bad thing, dude. The only way it’s alive right now is because it’s a parasite. Scarabs can’t survive on this planet without a host to attach itself to.”

“How do we keep me from turning evil and taking over the planet?” Jaime says, a little eagerly. 

“That’s relative,” Tim says, shrugging. “I mean, we’d really like it if you wouldn’t, and I’m sure you don’t want to, but none of us really know what could trigger it. We just have to be careful and keep a close eye on your little friend back there.”

“It’s my mission to make sure you won’t turn evil,” Bart says, grabbing Jaime’s hand. “I promise you, I will not fail.”

Tim raises his eyebrows. “Uh, yeah. We’ll see about that. Anyways, just hold tight for a minute while I get the cave system up and running and I’ll hook you up to everything. You’ll be able to access the tubes and the data base, we’ll set up a locker for you, get you a room if you want, this place is pretty much just a high tech clubhouse, you can come hang out here whenever you want. Conner and Bart are pretty much always here because they don’t have actual homes.”

“I have a home,” Bart protests. “It’s just very far away.”

“If by ‘very far away’ you mean ‘years in the future’ then yeah, it’s far away,” Tim scoffs. He looks at Jaime. “Unfortunately, you  _ are _ a minor so there are some, like, liability things that you’re going to have to discuss with the boss, but that’s not a big deal since I don’t see you dying anytime soon, so other than that, welcome to the team.”

Jaime blinks. “I’m on the team?”

“If you want,” Tim says. “You have access to anything you want and you’re able to contact us and we’d love to have you here in the cave, but you don’t have to work with us if you’re more comfortable working on your own.”

“But, yeah, man, you’re on the team,” Bart says, clapping Jaime’s back. “Yay for us.”

“Yay for us indeed,” Tim mutters, slowly running his eyes down Jaime’s body. He turns back to his computers. “You guys can go now. Thanks.”

Bart guides Jaime out of the room and back into the kitchen where Cassie is still cooking and  _ Wonder Woman is standing by the counter watching her. _

“Oh my god, that’s Wonder Woman,” Jaime whispers to Bart. 

“I know,” Bart whispers back. “She’s so pretty, oh my god.”

“What do we do?” Jaime asks. 

“Act cool? I don’t know,” Bart replies. 

Cassie lowers the heat on the stove and grabs a bottle of sauce from the refrigerator. “She is a woman. Not an ostrich. You can talk to her.”

“Hi, Diana,” Bart says, walking over to shake her hand. “Haven’t seen you in a while, it’s always a pleasure. This is Jaime, he’s the Blue Beetle.”

“Hello, Jaime,” Diana says, holding her hand out to him as well. “It is always wonderful to meet Cassandra’s friends.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jaime says, kind of in a daze. “I mean, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Where’d Conner go?” Bart asks, hopping back up onto his seat at the counter. “I wanted to ask you about that -”

“He had to go meet with Luthor to talk about some dad things,” Cassie says quickly. “This should be just about done, Bart, could you grab some plates for me?”

Bart picks up on the energy and quietly does as he’s told, pushing Jaime to sit down at the counter as well. He doesn’t push it. 

It is very awkward. Bart’s never been one to read the room, in fact he usually makes situations worse, but even he can tell that things have been awkward. 

He’s sitting on the couch, leaning against Jaime, who doesn’t seem to notice or care about the awkwardness because he’s relatively new, and they’re watching  _ Breaking Dawn Part 1 _ because Cassie and Conner are in a  _ Twilight  _ marathon and it’s team movie night, Tim and Conner are sitting on the floor with a bowl of popcorn between them, and Cassie is on the other end of the couch, partly paying attention to the movie and partly on her phone, and it’s just super  _ fucking _ awkward. 

It’s been awkward since Wonder Woman randomly showed up to try Cassie’s stir fry and Bart really has no idea why but everyone seems intent on not talking about it so he’s just not going to bring it up. 

“She looks so nasty,” Conner remarks, his eyes glued to the screen. “She was so pretty in the first movie.” 

“Well, yeah, in the first movie she was seventeen and fully human and living her best life, and now she’s got a demon child inside of her sucking up all of her nutrients and fully breaking her bones because it’s growing so unnaturally quickly,” Tim says. 

“Hey, we’ve all been there,” Cassie says quietly, not looking up from her phone. “This is a judgement free zone.”

“I do not mean to interrupt your team bonding time,” Red Tornado’s metallic voice says bemusedly. “But you have visitors.”

Cassie pauses the movie and frowns over at Red Tornado. “What do you mean by visitors?”

Dick pops in then, his smile much too bright for it to be genuine. “Hello!”

“Oh my god, how many times do I have to tell you that you are too old to hang out with us without it being creepy?” Tim groans. 

“Lovely seeing you too, baby bird,” Dick says, ruffling Tim’s hair. He nods at the rest of the team. “Sorry I haven’t stopped by in a while, things have been  _ wild.  _ Is this the Blue Beetle I’ve been hearing so much about?”

“Yeah, hi,” Jaime says, waving the arm that isn’t wrapped around Bart. “I’m Jaime.”

“I’m Dick, I’m Tim’s predecessor, it’s nice to meet you,” Dick says, waving back. 

Conner frowns. “Wait, Red Tornado said ‘visitors,’ as in more than one. Who did you bring with you?”

Tim sits up straight suddenly, his eyes wide. “No. No, no, no, no, no.”

“The hell are you going on about?” Cassie says, looking at Tim curiously. 

“Dick, we are too busy to deal with this right now,” Tim says. “We have things that we need to be doing, like,  _ important _ things.”

“Sounds like you’re in need of some extra help,” Dick says, grinning. 

“What is he talking about?” Conner asks. 

“Damian!” Dick sings, looking over his shoulder. Nothing happens so he turns around. “Damian, get in here.”

“Who is Damian?” Cassie whispers to Tim who looks like he’s ready to kill Dick. 

“One second,” Dick says, holding a hand up, and he rushes back out into the hallway before coming back with Damian tucked under his arm. “Damian!”

The team is struck silent and Tim wants so bad to just go to sleep and never fucking wake up. They all stare at each other for a very long time before Dick coughs. 

“Well,” he says. “I’ll leave you kids to it.”

“You are not leaving him with us,” Tim says at the same time Damian says, “You cannot leave me with him.”

“What am I looking at right now?” Conner mutters, narrowing his eyes. 

“Do we know him?” Jaime asks quietly and Bart shakes his head. 

“I’ll see you guys later today,” Dick says, already leaving. “Have fun!”

They’re left alone in the team room with Damian glaring at all four of them. 

“Hello, um, Damian,” Cassie says, bravely being the first to break the silence. “I’m Cassie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I assure you, it is not,” Damian says. 

Cassie blinks and then looks at Tim. “I do not like this little man.”

“Damian, why are you here?” Tim asks tiredly. “Shouldn’t you be at home?”

“Father entrusted my training to Grayson, but apparently he is busy tonight,” Damian says. “And no one trusts me enough to leave me alone.”

“I’m still missing, like, some key information here,” Cassie says. “Who is this kid?”

“Damian is my little brother,” Tim says, and it obviously pains him to say it.

“We are not brothers,” Damian says. 

“We have the same dad.”

“He’s not your father!”

“He adopted me! I live with him!”

“So we’re related by what?  _ Delusion?” _

_ “Ya, chamaco,” _ Jaime says, breaking the bickering. “You like movies?”

Damian looks at Jaime for the first time. “What do you mean?”

“We can watch whatever movie you want,” Jaime says, gesturing at the TV. Damian obviously doesn’t know how to respond because he just stares at Jaime for a while. Jaime nudges Bart over gently and pats the couch. “Come on, you can pick something.”

Damian reluctantly sits in the space provided for him and Cassie hands over the remote control to Jaime. Bart really has no idea what’s going on anymore but it’s different than the unbearable awkwardness so he doesn’t have a problem with it. 

“My favorite movie is  _ Zorro,” _ Jaime continues. “Do you like superhero movies?”

“I don’t know,” Damian says. 

_ What the fuck _ , Tim mouths to Bart, who just shrugs. 

“Oh, let’s watch  _ House of the Spirits,” _ Jaime says, falling on his selected movie. “You don’t scare easily, do you?”

“Of course not,” Damian scoffs. “I was trained by the League of Shadows my whole life, I was -”

Jaime laughs. “Alright, man _ , _ I get it. I think you’ll like this movie.”

The movie starts and Jaime quietly explains things to Damian when he asks. 

“Fuck, man, barely five minutes and he already likes Jaime more than he likes you,” Conner snickers to Tim. 

Tim punches Conner’s arm lightheartedly. “I don’t  _ want _ him to like me, he’s a literal demon.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about him?” Conner asks. “How long has he been around?”

“It’s not important,” Tim mumbles. “He’ll run away or die eventually.”

“Tim,” Conner says, frowning. “He’s Bruce’s son, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Tim says. “He’s just - he wants to replace me or something, and it’s really fucking pissing me off.”

“He won’t replace you,” Conner assures him. “No one can replace you.”

Tim raises his eyebrows. “Jason replaced Dick. I replaced Jason. Stephanie… you know, Stephanie happened. The Robins are very replaceable.”

“He’s, like, six, though,” Conner says. “I don’t think he’ll replace you for a while.”

“He’s ten,” Tim corrects. “And Dick was ten when he first became Robin.”

Conner sighs. “Dude, do you  _ want _ to be replaced?”

“No, asswipe,” Tim snaps. “I’m just very insecure!”

“You don’t have to be insecure,” Conner says. “You’re  _ our  _ favorite Robin, and you always will be.”

Bart coughs loudly. “Excuse me, we are watching a movie. You two can leave if you would like to keep talking.”

“Fuck off,” Conner says, shoving a handful of popcorn into Bart’s face. 

“God damn it, Conner!” Bart scrambles to get up and grab a paper towel. “There’s so much grease in popcorn, think about my pores!”

Maybe things will start going back to normal after tonight, Bart thinks. But for now, he’ll settle for watching the love of his life be adorable with a kid. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm the only person in the world who was like "what if jaime and damian were Friends"


	7. it's happening!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no one: 
> 
> bart, in gem world: IT'S HAPPENING! IT'S HAPPENING IT IS HAPPENING
> 
> anyways, thanks for coming on this journey with me, the sequel will be up as soon as i finish it, which tbh could take anywhere from a couple weeks to a decade, so bear with me

Tim is standing barefoot in the bedroom adjacent to his own, his hands clenched into fists at his sides so he won’t touch anything. The floor is hardwood and cold and all of the surfaces are covered in dust. The office chair by the desk isn’t fully pushed in, like someone had just gotten up to get a drink of water, and there’s a jacket lying on the neatly made bed. 

Picture frames are placed carefully on the walls, in a precise order that Tim has memorized by now. He must have spent hours looking at them when he first got here. 

There’s a framed front page of the newspaper from seven years ago with a black and white photo of a pantsless Robin standing at the edge of a balcony with a huge smile on his face, the words  **_“BOY WONDER SAVES MAYOR”_ ** on the headline above it. 

Tim never met Jason but he sees Jason everywhere he goes, in everything he does. It’s like he’s trying to live up to something, and everyone expects him to  _ be _ something, but no one will tell him how. No one can be like Dick. Whatever Bruce and Dick had can’t be recreated, nothing will ever come close, but Jason is different. Jason didn’t leave, he was taken. If he hadn’t been, Tim isn’t sure if he’d even be Robin right now. 

_ “We need to give him a place, he needs to feel like he belongs,”  _ Dick said.  _ “He just wants to belong.” _

The thing with Jason, and Tim, and Stephanie, even, is that they showed up when the position became available. Robin had left before they got there. But Robin is still here, Tim is _still here,_ and the next one is already lined up. 

Tim isn’t leaving, he’s being pushed out. 

Tim gingerly picks up a Nintendo 3DS from the dresser and opens it. It’s ancient, and the stylus is stuck to the side with some brown gooey stuff that Tim doesn’t want to think about.

The screen flickers to life, scaring Tim into dropping it, and it clatters to the floor. He scoots back to lean against the wall and watches an image slowly load up. 

“Jason?” Tim whispers incredulously. “Are you - is that - are you trapped in the DS?”

It starts making noise and Tim carefully takes a step closer. 

_ “-bin, if you can hear me, I need you to listen carefully.” _

Tim narrows his eyes. “What the fuck.That is not Jason. Hello?” 

_ “-ordon. I need your help. The Justice League -” _

“What, oh my god.” Tim rushes to pick up the DS. “Barbara?”

Cassie receives the message from Nightwing at 1:34PM, and she’s at Wayne Manor at 1:36PM. 

“What the hell, Nightwing?” she snaps. “What does this mean?” 

“Wow, that was quick,” Nightwing remarks. “Uh, follow me, I’ll show you.” 

Cassie hurries to catch up to Nightwing as he walks up to Tim’s bedroom. Bart appears at her side, windswept and out of breath, by the time they get there. 

“How long?” he asks. 

“About an hour,” Nightwing says. “Listen, guys, I don’t want you to jump to conclusions.” 

“Yeah, because taking your time really helped out the last Robin, didn’t it?” Conner says, climbing in through the open window. 

“Conner, don’t,” Cassie says. 

“I’m just saying, let’s face the facts,” Conner says. “The last time Robin went missing, he was murdered, and the guy who did it is still out there sucking ass.”

“Yeah, well you  _ don’t _ know the facts about that one, so you should keep your goddamn mouth shut,” Nightwing says. 

“How did you open the window from the outside?” Bart asks. 

“That’s not important, Bart,” Conner says. 

“Oh, please tell me, what  _ is _ important, Conner?” Bart shoots back. 

“I’m gonna go kill the Joker,” Conner says. 

Cassie grabs his arm to stop him from leaving the room. “No, no you’re not. Nightwing, what about his friends from school? Are you sure he’s not just hanging out somewhere? Did you ask Stephanie?” 

“Trust me, he’s not with any school friends, and he’s definitely not with Stephanie,” Nightwing says. 

“I don’t see what the problem is here, I’m going to kill the Joker,” Conner says. 

“You gotta let that one go, buddy,” Cassie says.

“Okay, regardless of whether or not he has Tim, he should be dead,” Conner states, like it’s obvious, because it is. “I’m just gonna kill him.” 

“He has a point,” Bart says. “That guy does deserve to die.” 

“We’ll put that on hold until we get Batman to weigh in on it, since that’s his thing, can we  _ please _ focus on trying to find Tim right now?” Nightwing says. 

“Did you ask the, uh,” Cassie holds her hand in front of her chest to indicate height, “the little one?”

“He’s doing this thing where he won’t talk to me because he’s upset,” Nightwing says. 

“I’ve had enough of this.” Conner yanks his arm out of Cassie’s grip and leaves Tim’s bedroom. Cassie sighs and runs after him, but finds that he’s barely even made it past the door. He’s standing silently, staring into the room next to Tim’s. Cassie has never seen that room before, it’s always been off limits and she never asked why. 

“What room is this?” Conner asks. 

Nightwing joins Cassie and Conner at the door. “It was Jason’s.” 

Conner steps inside and immediately goes to the dresser. 

“What, is he, like, tracking his scent or something?” Bart asks quietly. 

Cassie makes an ‘I don’t know’ sound. 

“We don’t like having people in there, actually, Conner,” Nightwing says. “So, you know, if you could -”

“These are Tim’s.” Conner holds up a pair of sunglasses. 

“That’s impossible, Tim hasn’t come in here for years,” Nightwing says. 

“Well, he was in here, like, yesterday,” Conner says. “Because these belong to him.” 

“Why would he be in here?” Cassie asks. 

“He wouldn’t,” Nightwing says. 

“But he was!” Conner says. 

“If you’re looking for Drake, he’s already gone.” They all turn to see Damian standing at the end of the hall with a glass of milk. “He took a bike from the cave and left this morning at seven.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Nightwing says, pushing through Cassie and Bart to get to Damian. “Where did he go? Where is he?” 

“I don’t know, he told me not to worry,” Damian says, shrugging. Then, he points at Cassie. “And he told me to tell  _ you _ to hold the fort down.” 

“What the hell,” Cassie says. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. that happened. btw i was watching under the red hood while writing this and tbh?? jason has absolutely No Right to make me so sad. love y'all. see u soon.

**Author's Note:**

> visit me on tumblr @tyviet or on twitter @kkongie_97 !


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